Two Beds and a Coffee Machine
by Tsuzukinyo
Summary: Duo loses touch with the guys after the war, but meets up with Wufei two years later. They get married, start a family, and everything seems great. Until Wufei becomes abusive. 5x2 to start 1x2 to end. Mention of 3x4. Yaoi!
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hello everyone! I know I'm supposed to be working on Manhattan Blue Eyes but this popped into my head and I can't finish MBE until I get this outta there. So, I hope you enjoy this and just know that I will have the rest of MBE out ASAP. This was inspired by the song 'Two Beds and a Coffee Machine' by Savage Garden.

Warnings: Yaoi, don't like don't read, violence, adult situations, abuse, rated M. 5x2, 1x2, mention of 3x4

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the story, the characters do not belong to me.

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Chapter 1- 4am

Duo woke up slowly, awareness slowly creeping back into him. Blinking groggily he slowly pushed himself up from his position on the kitchen floor. He tried to remember what happened but his mind was still too fuzzy. Looking around he realized he was surrounded by broken glass and was covered in blood, most likely his own.

He sighed in frustration not believing what had happened. As he looked around at the destruction that once was his kitchen, he finally remembered.

Wufei had gotten home late that night, drunk again from his night on the town with his buddies. He'd stumbled into the house waking Duo up instantly and making unreasonable demands. They had fought causing all the current destruction. Duo didn't want to fight back, he never felt that there was any honor in fighting a drunk person, they wouldn't remember in the morning anyway; Wufei never did.

The fight lasted for mere minutes but Wufei had picked up a vase and smashed it over Duo's head effectively knocking him out. He didn't know exactly how long he had been out, but it knew it couldn't have been that long.

He slowly stood up brushing the glass off himself before gingerly stepping around the broken shards on the floor and making his way down the hall. He slowly opened the door the check that Wufei was sleeping before moving further down the hall to his kids bedrooms.

The youngest, Toby, just 8 months old was still asleep thankfully and Duo gently lifted him out of his bed and placed him in his car seat. He then carried him to the next bedroom, to wake up his oldest child. The older was a girl 5 years old and looked exactly like Duo. He gently woke her up and did his best to explain to her that they had to leave.

The little girl just nodded while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes then gently took her Fathers hand and walked with him out the door and out of the house.

Duo quietly placed the baby seat in the car and buckled it in before helping his older daughter into her car seat and buckling her in as well. Then, without pausing or looking back he jumped into the drivers seat of the old beat up Ford Taurus and sped off into the night.

As he drove his mind wandered back to a happier time, before all of this had started. Wufei was not always like this, in fact, he used to be very kind. When they first got together things were really good.

It was two years after the Marimaeia war and Duo was working in a very successful scrap yard with Hilde. He was content with his life there, he had Hilde with him and even though he thought often of the other pilots, he never once regretted his decision.

He had been in the scrap yard exactly two years when Hilde suddenly announced that she was getting married and would be leaving; Duo was devastated. He knew she wouldn't be around forever but was unprepared to be alone again so soon. He missed the other pilots, especially Heero, but since none of them had bothered to so much as call him, he assumed they didn't want to associate with him. Of course, he hadn't tried to contact them either, but still.

Duo had been in love with Heero during the war and always hoped they could have a life together afterwards. When he left to 'protect' Relena, Duo took that as his answer and did his best to move on and forget the other pilot.

It was just a few days after Hilde's announcement that Wufei showed up at the yard. He was trying to recruit Duo to the Preventers. Duo of course declined since he had no intention of fighting anymore but he was so excited to see Wufei that he didn't even think about it when he asked the Asian man out for a drink.

They went to a local coffee shop where they talked until the place closed then went to Duo's house and talked until morning. Duo had a wonderful time and quickly developed feelings for the other man. So, when Wufei asked him to be his alone, Duo readily agreed.

Wufei got himself transferred to L-2 to be closer to Duo and proceeded to take him out on many dates. It was about a year after they started seeing each other that Wufei asked Duo to move in with him. They were married a year after that.

On their 2 year wedding anniversary Wufei asked Duo if he wanted kids. Sally had agreed to be their surrogate mother. Of course Duo happily agreed. The happiest moment in his life was when he first held his daughter. She looked up at him with his violet eyes and he couldn't help it, he started to cry.

Four years later they had a second child and things were going great. By 28 years old Duo had a family and what he thought to be a great life, he was truly happy. That was until Wufei suddenly changed. Duo didn't know what brought it on but he knows when it happened. It was right after the birth of their son.

At first Duo assumed he was just stressed from work, maybe he'd had a bad case or something. The arguments started out small, over stupid little things; the food was too peppery, or the floor was just a little too cluttered with toys, etc. Soon though, they escalated. They turned from mild arguments into small fights. Then Wufei started to go out drinking with "friends", people Duo had never met. Duo was always told to stay home when Wufei went out. Of course, he'd stopped going out months ago anyway.

Duo had quit his job at the salvage yard to be a stay at home Dad, and for the most part he loved it. When Wufei started to become really violent though he wished he had had a job, at least it would have given him some place to go to get away from everything for a few hours.

Hilde used to stop by frequently but that had recently stopped, he hadn't even heard from her in months. The last time she was over she'd asked Duo about the bruise on his cheek, he told her he'd fallen on one of the kids toys; of course she didn't buy it.

Wufei had also become incredibly controlling, demanding that Duo tell him every place he'd been to and every person he'd talked to. He even got accused of cheating once when he had talked to a young man at the grocery store for too long.

He wasn't allowed out of the house, except to go shopping, and he wasn't allowed to talk to anyone or Wufei would get increasingly upset. He didn't understand why the sudden mistrust from his spouse. They had been married nearly seven years now and Duo had never cheated on him and rarely ever pushed the issue on anything.

So now, eight months later, Duo had finally had enough. Wufei had gotten too violent and he was worried about what that was going to do to the kids. So at four AM on a Thursday morning Duo finally decided to flee. He knew he had to get away. He was sure that Wufei just didn't love him anymore, now he was wondering if Wufei EVER really loved him.

Once he stopped and thought about it, the last time Wufei even said "I love you" to him was before their son was born.

At first he was very hurt by Wufei's actions and kept blaming himself, but then he realized that he was never at fault. Now his hurt had turned to extreme anger.

As he drove down the darkened highway his thoughts strayed to the other Pilots. It'd been ten years since he'd seen them. He wondered how they all were and why they never contacted him. He knew that Wufei had spoken to them but he was never allowed.

He did remember seeing Quatre on the news once, he looked good and was apparently doing really well with WEI in his fathers place. Duo was happy for him and wanted to talk with the blond man but never was given the opportunity. He regretted allowing Wufei to control him so much, he could see that now.

After driving for a good four hours Duo was just too tired to continue and quickly found a place to stop. The kids were now awake and wanting food anyway so it was a good time. He found a cheap motel and turned in. Walking into his room he quickly looked around, two beds and a coffee machine, everything he needed to survive the next day.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Here's chapter two! I have a LOT more to go for this story just to warn you. This is going to be a long one. Well let me know what you think!

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Chapter 2-Hand of Life

Duo jumped as his cell phone rang, they'd been on the run for a week now and had yet to run into any problems. He had withdrawn $30,000 from their joint savings account to help care from him and the kids until they found a place to live. He figured it was the least Wufei could do after all the Asian man had done.

He looked down at his cell phone screen and was surprised to see Wufei's name shining there. With a groan he tentatively picked it up. "What?" he barked into the phone. There was a brief pause before Wufei's voice flowed into his ear, "Duo? Where are you?" Duo just smirked. "Don't pull that with me Wufei, I know you know exactly where I am. You've followed my every move for nearly a year now."

Wufei growled "I did that for your own protection!"

"Right, my own protection, like I really believe that. The only one I need protection from is you!" Duo knew he was starting to lose control of his anger and had to take a few deep breaths to calm himself. He started to pack the kids up as they talked since he knew a moving target was much harder to catch. After this phone call he knew he was going to have to get rid of the phone and get another that couldn't be traced to him.

"Duo! How dare you say that to me! I have given you shelter and a family for these past seven years and this is how you repay me? Where is the honor in running away from your husband?" Wufei spat out.

Duo wanted to scream instead he very calmly said back, "Where is the honor in beating your husband? This is it Wufei. I'm not coming back. You hit me the last time, I will never allow you to touch me again. I want a divorce. I'll have the papers sent over on Monday to your office. Sign them and just drop them off at the lawyers office and it'll be done."

"How dare you! You cur! You lieing L-2 street whore! I own you! I gave you everything you ever wanted, you can't just leave me!"

Duo was surprised at how much the biting words hurt him. He had thought that nothing from Wufei could hurt him any more, but hearing him call him an L-2 whore really hurt.

"I did love you Wufei, and that's all I ever wanted from you. You loved me too, once. What happened?" The silence that answered him was enough of an answer so Duo quickly snapped his phone shut before tossing the whole thing out the window of the moving car. He watched as it hit the road and burst into a thousand pieces. With a new determination set in his mind he moved forward. He may have hit another ditch in the road, but it would never stop him from moving forward.

The next day found them in the shuttleport waiting on a shuttle to L-4. His daughter was jumping around excitedly. "Daddy Daddy! We really get to go into space?" she asked for the millionth time.

Duo just smiled gently, "Yes sweetheart, we really get to go into space. And if all goes well you'll get to meet your Uncle Quatre. Would you like that?"

The young girl with the long chestnut hair and wide violet eyes cocked her head to once side and asked "Who's Katter?" Duo laughed, "Not Katter, Quatre sweetie. And he's my…." Duo stopped and tried to think hard about how to respond without lieing. "He's my brother from the war. He's very nice and I'm sure you'll really like him."

Once they were settled on the shuttle Duo finally allowed himself to truly relax. He knew that the next 16 hours would be Wufei free. No matter what, Wufei could not touch them until they were off the shuttle. He just prayed that Wufei wouldn't discover where he had run to. Of course Wufei did have the Preventers on his side and all he had to tell them was that Duo ran off with his children and they would back him one hundred percent. He was very worried.

During the war it was easy to disappear and make sure no one found him, but now with two kids in tow, there was nothing he could do to hide as he wanted to.

A gentle nudge to his shoulder had him awake and bolting out of his chair, startling the flight attendant. "I'm sorry to wake you sir but we are preparing to dock now." She said with a startled look on her face. He nodded in response and muttered out an apology.

He looked next to him and saw that his kids were both still happy. His oldest was coloring happily while the youngest was napping. The stewardess must have seen his puzzled look because she suddenly spoke up. "I hope you do not mind sir but we fed the young man for you while you were sleeping. You looked as though you really needed the sleep and he was no problem. We used the formula found in his diaper bag."

At first he was mad upon hearing this, mad at himself for not waking up while someone else handled his child. After a second he calmed down and realized just how helpful that was. When he stopped and thought about it he realized that no one besides him had ever fed Toby. Not even Wufei.

When he stopped to think about it, Wufei did not have anything to do with either of their children. From the start their care had been completely left up to Duo. He quickly stopped those thoughts long enough to thank the lady and get himself and the kids ready to leave the shuttle.

His little girl, Eliza, didn't stop talking once they left the shuttle. She was extremely excited to be in outerspace and had to tell her daddy about EVERYTHING she saw from the shuttle. Duo just chuckled and listened to her every word.

Once they made it into the colony Duo quickly booked a hotel room, two more beds and another coffee machine. That had been his life for the past week and a half. He just hoped that this would be the last one. Once checked in he found a reliable store to purchase a laptop, then went to work on finding out how to contact Quatre without having to go through political red tape to do it.

It took him a few hours since his hacking skills were rusty, and technology had changed in the 10 years he'd been away from it. He was pleased with himself when he finally broke into Quatres personal email account and wrote him a brief message.

'02 to 04, requesting assistance and a safehouse. Email info to this address. Needed immediately. Status unstable. 02 out'

Once the message was sent he sighed and went to play with his children while awaiting a response from Quatre.

The response was much quicker than he had anticipated and contained only coordinates and a phone number.

Duo packed the kids back up and hired a cab to take him to the safe house which was said to be in the center of the colony. When he got there a stone faced guard approached and demanded his name. He gave it and the guard let them in right away with no further questions asked.

Once they pulled up to the place he was shocked. It was huge! The place was a mansion with out a doubt. Suddenly Duo was filled with a feeling of dread. Quatre had done nothing but invited him over to his place.

He couldn't allow Quatre to do this, it would put Quatre in the middle of things and could even potentially put him in danger. He didn't know how far Wufei would go but he didn't want to push it either.

The cab pulled up in front of the house and Duo hesitantly got out pulling his children with him. His daughter looked up in awe at the place and tugged fiercely on his hand. "Daddy Daddy! Is this our new home?" she asked excitedly

"No baby, this is my brother, Quatres home. Remember me telling you about him?" before she could respond he heard a loud gasp and quickly looked up to see Quatre. The blond man was standing in front of him, just a few feet away, a hand covering his mouth and tears shining in his eyes.

Duo's eyes widened in shock, Quatre had changed more than any of them. He was tall now, easily close to six feet, with well chisled features, broad shoulders, and muscular arms. He looked like and Adonis, all beauty and grace.

"Brother? You think of me as your brother Duo?" he heard the other man ask

Duo looked away shame faced. He was sure that would offend Quatre since they hadn't seen eachother or even spoken in ten years.

Before he could formulate any response he felt strong arms quickly wrap around him in a rough embrace. "Oh Duo! I've missed you so much! I thought you hated all of us!"

Duo smiled and returned the embrace. Of course, this was Quatre, he wouldn't know how to hold a grudge if it killed him. He was glad for that. "I apologize Quatre. I had assumed that you and the rest of the pilots wanted nothing to do with me. At least that's what Wufei led me to believe."

At the mention of Wufei's name Quatres eyes suddenly went wide. "But it was Wufei who told us all not to bother you. That you didn't want to be reminded of the war by seeing all of us…"

Duo's eyes narrowed in anger. How dare he! He never ONCE said that. He had asked repeatedly to go see the other pilots and Wufei had always come up with an excuse why they couldn't.

"Daddy! Your hurting me!" the voice of Eliza brought him back to the present and he quickly let go of her hand and dropped down to one knee beside her. "Oh baby! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you." He pulled her into a hug and once he pulled away she smiled at him.

"Its ok Daddy, you didn't hurt me as bad as Papa hurts you so its ok." Duo's eyes widened at this. He didn't realize that she even knew what was going on.

"Oh my…Duo? What is going on?" Quatre's concerned voice broke through their thoughts and he quickly turned back to him. Standing up he ushered Eliza over to stand in front of him.

"This is Eliza, Mine and Wufei's daughter. Beside me in the carrier is Toby, our son. We need a safe place to hide where Wufei cannot find us. Please Quatre?" He quickly introduced his children and prayed that Quatre wouldn't turn him away.

Quatre of course smiled before kneeling down in front of Eliza. "Well hello Eliza. Its very nice to meet you. Would you like to come and stay with me for a while?"

Eliza looked a little puzzled at first before responding, "You're my Unca Katter right?"

Quatre laughed at this and said, "If you want me to be then I would be honored to be your Uncle"

The small girl smiled and nodded quickly then turned back to her dad. "Daddy! Can we stay here please?"

Duo let out a small smile and nodded his head. Before any more could be said Quatre quickly ushered them into the house and showed them their rooms.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Heeeeeellllloooooo! Here's the next chapter I hope you enjoy! Also, I swear I'll get back to MBE as soon as I have this done, or maybe sooner, we'll see. Either way I WILL get back to it.

This chapter is where things are really going to start picking up. Oh, and be warned, things are going to get A LOT worse for Duo before they get better, but they will get better! I promise!

Same warnings apply as with the same disclaimer.

Chapter 3-Falling in Order to Get Back Up

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Duo made his way down into the kitchen following the sounds of his childrens happy laughter. He could hear his oldest saying something before squealing in delight then giggling wildly.

Once he made it to the kitchen he stopped and watched a moment as Quatre chased the 5 year old around with—an egg beater? Duo's eyebrows creased in confusion before laughing out loud finally making his presence known.

Eliza let out another squeal and launched herself into Duo's arms screaming "Daddy Daddy!" the whole way.

Duo laughed again and hugged his daughter tight. "Morning pumpkin head. Are you having fun with Uncle Quatre?" She nodded vigorously before breaking out in an explanation that only a child could truly appreciate. "Yeah yeah! Unca Katter was usin' da spinny thing to make summin but when I axed what it was; he said, he said it was a-a- kiddy beeder! Then he chaseded me wit it! You'll get him tho right Daddy?"

Duo's mouth quirked into a mischievous smile before looking over at Quatre, "Of course I'll "get" him honey. Just watch!" Quatre's eyes widened in surprise but before he could move Duo pounced on him, knocking them both to the cold tile floor where he proceeded to tickle the blond man into submission.

Quatre wriggled and writhed all he could but was unable to get free from Duo. After a few minutes he finally broke down and tapped out signaling for Duo to release him, which he did. They were all laughing joyfully by this point and Duo was feeling better than he had in a long time.

Once breakfast was over Quatre sent the kids off with one of the servants and swiftly pulled Duo into his private study to talk. The study was just like any other room, just slightly smaller. All four walls were covered in floor to ceiling book shelves and completely filled up with books. A small redwood desk sat in the middle of the room cluttered with papers, pens, and other such things. In front of it were two very comfy looking arm chairs covered in deep red micro suede and Duo plopped down into one.

He looked around briefly noting the one window directly behind the desk that was also floor to ceiling and split in two. It created a door and led out to a surprisingly roomy balcony. The window was dressed with two very large very thick red velvet-like curtains and was pulled back with thick gold ropes. It was all very fancy and rich looking; or as Quatre would say it was 'refined'.

Quatre sat himself down behind the desk and got comfortable before turning his wide aquamarine eyes onto Duo. "Well?" he said simply his voice betraying just how worried he felt.

Duo sighed and looked behind Quatre and out the window. He knew that the story would be easier to tell if he didn't have to look the other in the eyes. "Well, I guess it all began after the war…" he started speaking softly at first unsure of exactly what to say.

"I met up with Wufei just two years after the wars ended. As you know I hadn't seen anyone other than Hilde up until that point and when I saw him I was ecstatic. I asked him out first and was shocked when he accepted.

We got to talking and I found myself really drawn to him. Sure it wasn't the love that I thought I could have with someone else, but I did fall in love with him in my own way." He paused to think and was happy when Quatre just remained silent.

"When he told me that you guys were too busy to be bothered, or didn't want to be reminded of the war, I completely believed him. I trusted him not to lie to me so I just went along with it. We got married two years after that…." Duo trailed off there as he heard a gasp from Quatre. His gaze snapped back to Quatres and was shocked to see Quatre with his hand covering his mouth shock written over every feature.

"Duo! You can't have been married to Wufei! This is all just wrong! Oh dear… " He stood up and started pacing obviously distressed.

"What do you mean we can't have been married? I have the marriage certificate to prove it! And I invited all of you to our wedding but you sent a response politely declining stating that you were simply too busy to attend….. Or at least that's what Wufei told me…." Duo trailed off realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. Something bigger was going on here than he ever realized and he was suddenly terrified to find out.

Quatre sensing his distress quickly walked around the desk and knelt in front of Duo. "Oh Duo! I'm sooo sorry! This is all such a big mess! I don't even know where to begin!" he gently took Duo's hands in his and gave them a soft encouraging squeeze. "Why don't you finish your story first then I will tell you all that I know."

Duo nodded and continued on in a now shaky much softer voice, "After we got married things were really great for a while then one day he came to me and asked me if I would be interested in having kids. Apparently sally was working on a new technology that was a combination between cloning and artificial insemination with a surrogate. Basically he took sperm from both of us and gave it to Sally. She worked her magic and well you've seen the results. I have two beautiful children. Although I think the cloning was a little strong with Eliza, I don't see any of Wufei in her at all. Toby on the other hand looks like a perfect mixture between the two of us. He's got Wufei's dark hair, but blue eyes instead of violet or black. Sally says that's just the way my violet gene worked out with him. They may darken with age.

Anyway, it wasn't until after Toby was born that things started to get really weird. Wufei suddenly changed. He started going out drinking a lot more and often came home drunk. He would get really angry and we would fight, but since I refuse to fight someone who's drunk it usually ended up just me getting beat up. He would eventually get tired, give up, and finally go to bed and in the morning wouldn't remember a thing; or so he claimed."

Duo sqeezed Quatres hands nervously before taking a deep calming breath and continuing. "Last week he came home drunk, as usual, only much worse this time, he became incredibly belligerent and extra violent. We argued at first, always the same argument, 'Where did you go today?' 'Who did you see?' 'Who did you talk to?' etc.

This time he was upset because I talked to someone too long in the grocery store again or something equally stupid. I don't even remember why he was upset but either way, it quickly escalated from an argument to a full scale fight. The last thing I remember was him picking up a large heavy glass vase we had and hitting me over the head with it.

I woke up a while later packed a bag, grabbed the kids, and hightailed it out of there. He went to far this time and I want a divorce now. " He finished talking and looked up into Quatres now watering eyes. He was just about to ask about the tears when he threw himself into my arms sobbing uncontrollably.

"Oh Duo! I'm soooo sorry!" he got out in between sobs. I hugged him tightly fighting off my own urge to cry. I hadn't cried a single time since this whole thing had happened, but if I continued to hang out with Quatre it was bound to happen.

After a couple of minutes he finally pulled himself together and slowly slipped off of my lap and into the chair next to me. He reached out and turned my chair and his own so that we were facing each other with our knees touching. He grabbed my hands again and slowly began to speak.

"Now Duo, I want you to promise me that you will think before you react to what I am about to tell you." I nodded in reply suddenly feeling incredibly worried.

The blond executive then took a deep breath before starting in on his tale. "After the war ended we all went our separate ways. I made the decision to wait before contacting everyone so that we all might form some semblance of a life first.

You went off with Hilde, Trowa went back to his circus and his sister, Heero went to Relena, and Wufei joined Sally at the Preventers. It was exactly a year after when Wufei showed up on my door step with the excuse that he wanted me for the preventers. I of course had to decline since I have WEI to think about now. I did however promise to help fund their operations and quickly became a full supporter.

During our talks I had asked Wufei if he had talked to anyone else yet and he told me that he had talked to you. I asked how you were and he said that you were living with Hilde and didn't want to be contacted because the war was too painful for you and you didn't want anything to remind you of it." He paused and his hands flew over his face suddenly feeling mortified with himself for believing the Asian man.

"I am truly sorry I believed him. He made every excuse and sounded so sure and confidant that I quickly believed him. Listening to myself say it though it does sound pretty ridiculous doesn't it? I should have at least called you to confirm it. Gosh! I'm such and idiot! If only I—"

Duo cut him off by reaching out and grabbing a hold of one of Quatres hands. "Quat, please… don't be sorry. He said the same things to me about you guys, remember? We were both stupid to believe him, but we are not at fault. He is the only one that should be blamed since he is the one that lied to both of us."

Quatre nodded and gave Duo a small smile. He sounded slightly stronger when he started his story up again. "After about a year I called Wufei to talk to him about some Preventers issues and ended up talking to Sally. He and sally were going to get married that month and asked if I would come to their wedding. I of course readily agreed and I did go, it was just a month or so after that."

Duo gasped in surprise. It couldn't be true! How could he be married to two people at the same time! He blinked a few times but couldn't form words to even respond. He scowled, now incredibly pissed off at the dark Asian man. He silently urged Quatre to continue his story.

"About five years after that I hear that he has had a child with Sally, I was even sent pictures. On top of that I hear that he has moved to L2 to be the head of Preventers there.

I knew that you lived on L2 but I was never able to find any information on you. I'm ashamed to say that it just backed up Wufei's story that you didn't want to be bothered. I mean… Even Heero couldn't find anything." His voice started to tremble a little from the onslaught of emotions but instead of breaking down like he wanted to he continued on.

"Duo, I'm soo incredibly sorry! We've lost nearly ten years because of him! I missed you terribly but when we couldn't find you I assumed you were in hiding and didn't want to be found! Please forgive me!" Quatre finally gave in to his tears at this point and broke down completely. Tears were flowing freely down his cheeks moments later when he moved from his chair to throw himself into Duo's arms.

Duo gasped softly in surprise at the feeling of strong arms suddenly wrapping around his shoulders. One second he's alone in the chair with Quatre sitting in front of him, the next the blond man is practically in his lap crying uncontrollably.

Duo huffed in indignation for a minute thinking that it should be him crying his eyes out; but instead of voicing that thought he just patted Quatre gently on the back while making soft cooing sounds to soothe him.

He didn't really blame Quatre, after all, the man said that they did attempt to find him. Duo allowed the blond to sob on him for a minute or so before gently taking his shoulders in his hands and pushing him slowly back into his own chair.

"So let me get this straight. Wufei is married to Sally and has a child with her but he also has two children with and is 'married' to me as well? That still doesn't explain the sudden change in behavior. I mean, he was good to me at first. It wasn't until Toby was born that he started to get mean." He had to sit back and think for a while.

Quatre finally pulled himself back together once Duo started talking again and nodded his head before shakily asking, "You say he suddenly changed in behavior? When was that exactly?"

"Well Toby's eight months old and it's now December so I guess it was in April, maybe? It was right after Toby was born but I don't think I could pinpoint the exact moment. Why?"

Quatres brows creased in worry before slowly bringing his eyes up to meet Duo's. "Duo, Sally died in on April 29…. I thought you knew that."

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DUN DUN DUN! Omg! Sooo much information!

Sorry I couldn't get this out sooner but here it is and I hope you enjoyed it! Things are really going to start heating up in the next few chapters!

BTW, sorry to turn Wufei into such a scheming bastard, but he was the one most suited for the job. I like him and Duo as a pair, but my favorite pair of all time is 1x2 so you can see why I had to have Wufei for that role. Also, the man is incredibly intelligent so he could have easily pulled this off I think.

R&R please! Thank you everyone!


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Hello again everyone! Here's another chapter, yay! I will probably post one more after this over the weekend and then you wont hear from me again for 2 weeks. My mom is coming to visit me and will be here for two weeks and since I live in a small one bedroom, I probably wont get the opportunity to write any. So, I hope that this will hold you over until then. Don't worry, everything will be explained.

Same warnings as always, same disclaimer.

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Chapter 4- The lie that told truths

Duo's heart stopped when he heard those words, "Sally died…" he just couldn't believe them. Of course he had wondered why he hadn't heard from the woman in so long, but, he _never_ once thought that might be the reason. On top of that, Wufei! That Bastard! He never mentioned a thing!

Well at least now Duo understood part of why the man was drinking. His Preventers partner and _wife _had just died! Duo was seething with rage. He stopped in his pacing as his mind raced from thought to horrible torrid thought. His hands clenched into tight fists at his sides, nails digging into his palms. He wanted to punch something, hurt something. He was a man of action and right now he needed some action terribly.

"Quatre!" he barked out turning back to the other man who was still seated. "Do you still spar?" his clipped tone told Quatre just how upset he was and the smaller man just nodded slowly. "Fine then, lets go. I need to work off some steam." Without looking back he made his way out the door trusting on Quatre to follow.

Quatre quickly stood and all but ran out the door after Duo. Once he caught up to him he quickly passed him so that he could lead the way.

Two hours later found them both flat on their backs breathing heavy and covered in sweat. On any other day Duo would have joked about their current positions, but as it was he was still upset. He did feel calmer after the good workout though and was happy to see that Quatre hadn't lost any of his abilities.

"Good God Quat! You still fight like your back in the war! Who taught you all of that?"

Quatre blushed at the praise. "Not true Duo, I was just doing everything in my power to keep up with you. You're too good. And most of my techniques I learned after the war, Trowa taught me."

Duo went silent for a moment before rolling onto his side to look at Quatre. With a curious look on his face he asked, "Did you and Tro ever get together? I mean you were so obviously into each other back during the war."

Quatres eyes went wide at Duo's question and within seconds his whole face had turned a bright tomato red. "W-well actually…" He stuttered trying to find the correct words and after a second fell silent once more. He rolled himself over so that he was facing Duo and let out a small sigh.

Duo's concerned look was the only thing that got him to talk once more. Aquamarine eyes closed in a pained expression before a soft voice made its way past its lips. "I was crazy about him. Still am actually. But after the war he went his own way and even though we've sort of kept in touch I was never brave enough to say anything more. I was afraid that it would ruin what friendship we already had, precarious as it was."

He opened his eyes and finally dared to look at Duo who was currently staring at him with a strange expression on his face. "I guess none of us got our happy endings then huh?" he ventured softly reaching out a hand to grab the blue eyed mans. He gave a gentle squeeze in understanding before pulling his hand back and standing up.

He allowed himself one quick stretch arching his back and raising his arms high above his head, before offering a hand to help Quatre up, who took it willingly. Once they were both standing Duo gave him an award winning smile. "You know there is still time. I mean I'm starting over, so why don't you?"

The shy smile that graced Quatres face spoke a thousand words all on its own. The now much larger man then reached a hand out and took Duo's in his own in a firm handshake. "It's a deal Duo! Lets do everything we can to find our own happy endings!"

'We shook on it, so it's official' Duo thought as he made his way back up to his room. The windows were open allowing a soft breeze to filter through. Even though it was December it was still warm outside on the colony. He basked in the feeling of the wind ghosting over his arms and through his hair. It reminded him somehow of the times he spent on earth with Heero.

He allowed himself to get lost in thoughts of the messy haired half-asian. It felt like it had been a truly long while since he had even spare a thought for the other man. He considered Heero to be his best friend during the war, standoffish as he was.

Everything about the blue-eyed war hero called out to Duo and he had assumed that even after the war they would remain close. Unfortunately life had other plans for him. He didn't regret his time with Wufei for one minute, how could he? He had two beautiful children out of the deal and he loved them both dearly.

Thinking about his children turned his thoughts dark as they moved to Wufei. He truly did not understand what the hell was going on. How could Wufei be married to him and to Sally at the same time? It was obvious that Eliza came from him, but what about Toby? Was Toby even his? The boy looked nothing like him and more like Wufei than anything. Other than the obvious blue eyes.

Questions ran through his mind in a frenzied cloud growing darker and darker by the second. Nothing made sense any more. Everything was a confusing mess. He'd loved Wufei! And now he didn't even know if Wufei ever really loved him.

Then something clicked inside Duo's head. He suddenly felt very sad for the Asian man. What had happened to bring the once Justice and Honor obsessed man down to commit such an atrocity? The man used to go everywhere ranting about justice and honor and Duo realized with a start that the whole time he was with Wufei, he never once used those words. Even during the wedding ceremony their vows included everything but.

He'd taken a vow to love, cherish, respect, and protect Wufei til death do they part. He felt that he'd done his best to uphold those vows, Wufei on the other hand, had not.

Duo turned to his bed and flopped down on it in frustration. He knew he would have to go back and confront Wufei about all of this sooner or later. Although, right now he wanted nothing more than to beat the guy senseless, while he's sober of course.

After some more heavy and deep thought, he decided to ask Quat to watch his kids for a few days while he made the trip back to L-2 to confront Wufei. He had to know the reason for everything; all the lies, deceit, and abuse.

With a nod and a plan of action in his head he quickly jumped up intent on hunting down Quatre and relaying his plans. He knew what he had to do and figured that it was better to just go ahead and get it over with rather than wait. With that thought he quickly strode out the door.

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Alright! Another chapter down! What's going to happen next? Hmm? Lol well I hope to have another chapter out by Monday but if not then it will definitely be during the week sometime.

Thank you for all of the reviews! I really appreciate all of them. Reviews are like candy, every one I get makes me excited for more. So as per usual, R&R!


	5. Chapter 5

AN: It was brought to my attention that I made a mistake in my last chapter. It was an oversight on my part and I apologize. I have no true excuse for the mess up other than that I was rushing through the chapter and wasn't paying attention. I did fix it and reposted the chapter. So thank you for pointing that out; however, I really don't appreciate your use of such strong language in any review. That goes for anyone that wants to review. I love reviews, I even love constructive criticism. That being said, if you are going to critic my work than please speak like an adult and a respectable human being. Using foul language is not going to earn you any credit in my eyes. If I have made a mistake in my writing, tell me and I will do my best to fix it. Even if I've said something to offend you, you can still point it out in a respectful way. For everyone else that has reviewed so far, thank you very much! Your kind words are what spurs me forward. Thank you again and here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

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Chapter 5-Up and Over

Duo sighed heavily as he gazed out the window of the shuttle he was currently on. It was amazing how much his life had changed in just a few weeks. Just two weeks ago he was at home, his and Wufei's home, with his two children. Now he was alone.

He left his children with Quatre knowing they would be safe with him. While he didn't think Wufei would ever knowingly hurt them, he was certainly not going to give him the chance.

The trip back to L-2 was going to be a long one. He decided well before he even left that he would not return until everything was straightened out, including his divorce. The very thought of Wufei had him snarling soundlessly and his fists clenching. He had loved the man, but after everything that he'd learned, that love had died. The only thing he felt for the man now was anger, a deep seething anger that he hadn't felt since the war ended. It made him wish he still had his Gundam so he could use it against Wufei. A good old fashioned Gundam fight would do them both wonders. He chuckled darkly at the thought, of course Deathsythe would win since he was the far superior Gundam.

The sound of the overhead announcement system startled Duo out of his dark thoughts and brought him back to the present. They were docking and he had around five minutes to prepare himself for what was about to come.

Stepping off the shuttle he was greeted with the sight of the bustling shuttleport. Families greeting other family members, and friends welcoming friends home with open arms and smiles. As he looked around he got a sudden pang of regret circling his heart just before fear took over. Just ahead of him, about 100 feet or so, stood Wufei with his arms crossed over his chest looking for all the world as if he was bored.

He swallowed thickly pushing down the fear that was suddenly trying to consume him. He couldn't let Wufei get the best of him. He knew he had to stand strong and hold his ground no matter what the other man threw at him. With determination in mind he took a deep breath to steady his nerves and walked briskly up to his husband.

Wufei looked up just as Duo approached with an angry scowl on his face. "Wufei," he said tersly. Wufei's eyes widened slightly but otherwise remained impassive. "What are you doing here? How did you know I would be here?"

Wufei looked bored if anything by the question and for a second gave Duo a look that screamed 'are you an idiot?' before letting out a breath. "Duo, I'm a Preventers agent. It wasn't hard to figure out where you went and it certainly was no problem finding out that you had boarded a shuttle to come home."

Duo grit his teeth boiling with rage and disgust. How dare this man track his every move! Before he could respond Wufei reached out and grabbed his arm. "Come now, its time to go home" he said while gently pulling Duo towards the exit.

Duo allowed himself to be pulled for a second, easily falling back into old habits, before common sense kicked in. "How dare you!" he bit out roughly pulling his arm free. "I'm not going anywhere with you Wufei. The only place I'm going is to a hotel room for the rest of the night and then tomorrow we can talk"

Wufei looked at him as if he'd grown two heads and laughingly replied, "Don't be silly Duo. Of course you'll come home. You belong there."

Of all the things Wufei could have said, that was the last thing Duo expected. Instead of verbally jumping all over the Asian man, Duo decided to do his best to play it cool and not create a scene. The last thing he needed was for Wufei to attack him right there at the shuttleport.

The deep breaths he was taking was doing little to calm his nerves. Wufei stood just slightly behind him staring at him with a face full of confusion and worry. Duo almost laughed to himself at this. The man truly seemed to have no idea why Duo was so upset. He would find out though, and very soon.

"Look, Wufei, I really don't want to cause a scene. I promise I will talk with you, just not right now. Its been a long flight and I'm tired. I'm going to a hotel now and I will come home first thing in the morning."

Wufei's eyes flashed anger at this news and he started to protest but Duo held up a hand stopping any further conversation from him. "This is not open for discussion. I will talk with you tomorrow Wufei. Oh, and if you really want to talk then you will call into work tomorrow. Good night."

Duo was out the door and in a cab before Wufei could even respond. Once the cab was in motion he finally allowed himself to sit back and relax. That was the most he had ever stood up to the other man and he was a little shaken by it. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes in an attempt to still his racing mind, but of course it did little to help.

The thoughts of would could happen when he finally confronted Wufei continued to swirl throughout his mind all night, resulting in very little actual sleep. He finally pulled himself out of bed around eight A.M. and slowly cleaned himself up.

After a filling breakfast, courtesy of the the hotel, he grudgingly made his way to his old home via cab.

Once the cab stopped in front of his house he stopped and stared at it for a moment before slowing stepping outside. The house didn't feel like his home anymore, in fact as he stood there looking at it, he felt more like an outsider or trespasser than anything.

He was unaware of how long he stood there just staring at the old Victorian house. Five minutes? Ten? Two? It didn't matter really but no matter how long he stood there, he just couldn't bring himself to walk up those front steps, and up to the pale blue front door.

Suddenly the door was ripped open knocking Duo and his thoughts back to the present. There stood Wufei looking as stern as ever. "What the hell are you doing just standing there? Come in before the neighbors start to wonder!" Having given his invitation he turn swiftly on his heel and stalked further into the house leaving the door open behind him; obviously expecting Duo to follow.

Following Wufei into the house felt like taking a walk down deaths row for Duo. He could feel his heart start to race as his adrenalin suddenly increased. His hands started to feel clammy and he was aware of a slight light-headed feeling building up. He took a deep breath and tried to force himself to remain calm. The constant reminders that he was a Gundam Pilot as well that he gave himself were only fractionally helping.

The house hadn't changed any at all, and why should it? The same pictures hung on the wall mostly of Duo with the kids and only one of Duo with Wufei. He never did get any pictures of Wufei with the kids, now he was starting to understand why.

Nothing in the house would make anyone guess that the occupants were married. If anything they looked like roommates with children on the side. There were no wedding pictures, anywhere, no love notes or personal touches, nothing. It was shocking to come to such a realization.

How had he never noticed all of this? Why did none of it bother him before? Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized he'd always known something was not quite right.

The only people he had had contact with in the past 8-10 years was Wufei and Sally, yet he wondered why Sally never mentioned anything. If they were married why did she not tell him? What was he to her?

Duo was interrupted out of his thoughts by the sound of Wufei clearing his voice and motioning for him to follow. Swallowing down the bile of fear and apprehension that threatened to consume him, he slowly moved into the kitchen and sat down at what was once his table as well.

"Well Duo, I'm glad your back" Wufei started talking while he reached across the table to gently place his hand over Duo's, "I missed you".

Duo jerked his hands back quickly as if Wufei's very touch burned him. A flash of hurt stole its way across Wufei's face before he withdrew his own hand. "Why did you leave?"

Violet eyes widened in disbelief at the sudden question and he had to control his rage before he was able to talk. "Wufei… you beat me. You kept going out and getting drunk then you would come home and in a jealous rage you would beat me! The night I left you had picked up a heavy vase and broken it over my head! What the hell did you expect me to do? Just pick myself back up and carry on as if nothing ever happened!" His fists slammed onto the table in front of him as he glared daggers at the man in front of him.

Wufei looked surprised before looking down at the table in front of him. In a small shaky voice he said, "I'm sorry. I don't remember much of that night. I remember us arguing then I remember waking up in bed with you gone."

"hmph! That wasn't even the first time that had happened you know. You're a very violent drunk and I refuse to be your punching bag any longer."

Confusion ran through Wufei's eyes, "Why didn't you fight back? I know you could have defended yourself."

Duo shook his head and looked right into Wufei's dark eyes, "I didn't fight back because I was taught that there was no honor in fighting a drunk since they don't really understand what they are doing. Whats the point of winning a fight that will be forgotten the next day anyway?"

The Asian man looked shocked then turned away in shame, it was he that had taught that to Duo and now this. "I'm sorry Duo, gods above I am sooo incredibly sorry!"

Obscure eyes met violet and Duo was lost. He couldn't help it, a part of him still loved Wufei despite all that had occurred. For a second Duo even forgot the rest of the lies. He sighed, "You really hurt me Wufei, in more ways than just physical. I appreciate the apology and I can even forgive you for your drunken messes, if you **promise** to not _ever_ drink another drop again." The stern look he gave Wufei told of just how serious he really was.

Wufei nodded slowly and went back to studying the table, "I understand. I will do it, this I promise." He said sadly.

At the sound of the word 'promise' Duo suddenly remember their wedding vows and a great wave of sadness washed over him. It was time to get everything straightened out, no more lies. After all he was Duo Maxwell and he may run and hide, but he _never_ lies.

* * *

End Part 5! I hope everyone enjoyed it, in the next chapter you find out why Wufei did what he did and what exactly is going on! Also, someone else shows up that Duo has not seen or talked to in ages. Who could it be? Find out next time in Two Beds and a Coffee Machine part 6!


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Hello everyone! Sorry for the long delay! My mom came to visit me and just left, so I finally have time to write. So without any further ado, here is chapter 6!

This chapter is dedicated to a new fan- Oli- You gave me the best review I have gotten so far and I just want to say thank you so much for your very kind words. I couldn't stop smiling after I read it. I hope you are enjoying this story just as much as you did 'The Broken Soldier'. I look forward to your future reviews.

Of course I thank ALL of my reviewers from the bottom of my heart! You are all wonderful and what keep me going!

Warnings: abuse, bad language, and shocking discoveries! That's about it I think….

Same disclaimer as always applies. I own nothing but the story line!

Chapter 6

Love, lies, and Alibi's

Duo stared hard across the table at the man in front of him. The Asian looked truly worn out, dark hair dull and broken falling across his face from a _loose_ ponytail. Anyone that was even remotely acquainted with the man knew that he always wore his hair pulled back in a _tight_ ponytail. That fact alone would have alarmed Duo if he hadn't already seen the bags under the black now listless eyes.

Part of Duo felt a bit smug at Wufei's appearance, after all it did serve him right for the way he had treated Duo, the things that he had done. He needed to feel bad about it, to really think on what he was capable of, and how to fix it.

After a deep breath and a quick drink of water that was set before him, he steeled himself for what he knew he must bring up; his marriage.

The topic of his marriage was not one that he had any real desire to tackle. He had blindly believed everything Wufei had ever told him and never questioned it. Thanks to that, he had lost several friends and missed out on a great many things in life.

He was fidgeting in his seat and jumped slightly when Wufei's questioning voice called out, "Duo?" His eyes snapped up and met dark black irises filled with concern. "Are you going to come home now? This is where you belong after all."

Duo's eyes darkened as all of the anger returned. This was it, it was time for Wufei to come clean. Without taking his eyes from the Asian mans he said in a dark voice, "Why don't you tell me about Sally first? And Wufei, I do mean _everything_ about Sally, and you."

Wufei's eyes widened slightly in alarm before quickly hardening then turning away completely, "I'm afraid if you want any more kids she will be unable to help you" he stated coldly before standing up and turning away from the table to gaze out the window above the sink.

Duo's snort and answer of "and why don't you tell me exactly why that is? Hm?" caused Wufei to turn back around, but still their eyes did not meet. Wufei was doing his best to avoid actually looking at him.

"Sally's dead." Was the overly simplified statement cold in its release chilling the whole room quickly and squeezing out any joy that might have lingered. At Duo's lack of reaction Wufei became instantly aware that Duo knew more than he was letting on.

Cold black eyes finally met with sad hopeful violets. "Why didn't you tell me?" Duo's voice was soft, barely a whisper floating on the breeze and wouldn't have been heard if Wufei didn't have such acute hearing.

Still they held each other's gazes, "I didn't want you to question anything else, or blame yourself for her death."

At the thought of blaming himself Duo's expression quickly changed to one of confusion. "Why would I have blamed myself?"

Wufei turned away then shoulders stiff, "Because it was you that wanted a second child and she died due to complications from giving birth the second time".

The thought of blaming himself for something like that would have never occurred to him, but apparently it was obvious to Wufei. "I would blame myself? Are you sure? 'Cause from here it sounds like you are the one blaming me."

Wufei's whole posture went rigid at Duo's words but he made no move to turn back around or even deny Duo's claim, his silence said everything.

Duo gasped as realization hit him, "You blame me! That's the real reason for the drinking and the beating! You son of a bitch!" Duo yelled jumping to his feet, finally allowing some of his rage to show.

The Asian man did turn back around then, stone cold eyes full of rage, hurt, and despair met Duos and before anyone could blink he was on Duo pushing him roughly into the wall behind him. It was sheer force of will that kept his head from slamming into the wall behind him. His eyes narrowed and held Wufei's as the other man spoke once again.

"I couldn't help but blame you! I felt the need to blame something and I certainly couldn't blame the baby!" His expression cracked then freely showing Duo all of the rage, despair, and desperation that he was feeling. He eased up on Duo then, hands still clasping his shoulders and head hanging between them as the tears finally started to flow.

"I'm sorry! I felt terrible for blaming you but I couldn't help it all the same. I would blame you then berate myself for blaming you, then justify it in my mind, then berate myself again, and it became this vicious cycle that I couldn't get out of!" he paused just long enough to take an unsteady gulp of air and Duo could tell that the man was starting to break completely and would soon start to hyperventilate if he didn't calm himself down.

"I meant to tell you she died! I really did! But for some stupid reason I started drinking and then with each passing day I would put off telling you. Finally it got to the point where I just _couldn't_ tell you!" another gulp of air as madness slowly started to creep its way into his eyes.

Duo decided then that he had to calm the other man down and quickly or it would get out of hand and nothing would be solved. He quickly reversed their position so that he was the one grasping Wufei's shoulders and he forced Wufei's now fully crazed eyes to meet his. He held the other man steady as he spoke, never losing eye contact. "Wufei, you need to calm down. I understand now what happened but unless you calm down we cannot fix anything."

He watched as the madness slowly crept out of Wufei's eyes to be replaced with sadness and weariness. His shoulders slumped and his eyes left Duo's as he took a few conditioning breaths to calm himself.

Duo grabbed his hand and held it for a minute, the familiar weight both comforting and terrifying, before steering them both into the living room to sit on the couch. Once seated and calmed he gently started to coax Wufei into telling him more.

"So, I understand what happened and while it was dishonorable of you, I forgive you for not telling me. You have obviously agonized over this enough on your own."

Wufei gave a just barely discernible nod in reply, more of a show that he was listening than anything else. "I am truly sorry Duo. In many ways I have done you more wrong than good…" he trailed off obviously not wanting to tell Duo of all the ways he had done him wrong.

Duo mentally shrugged not worried about it as he would get a full confession out of him one way or another.

Wufei sat stone still on the couch, hands clenched tightly together, head hanging, barely even blinking. He was the pure picture of misery. Duo almost felt bad for him, almost.

"Wufei," he started out as gently as possible. Wufeis response to what he had to say next would make or break even their friendship, for as shattered as it was at the moment, it could be pieced back together, but only if Wufei came completely clean, "I want a divorce".

At the sound of those words Wufei visibly flinched, the action alone told Duo everything he already knew but was afraid to hear anyway. He sent up a silent prayer that Wufei would come clean now and tell him everything.

Movement from Wufei drew Duo's attention back to the present. He was looking at Duo with tears in his eyes and regret painted across every line on his face. "I'm so sorry Duo! I cannot apologize enough. I'm sorry…."

Duo couldn't respond he didn't know what he should say. He was still waiting for a full confession after all. Then Wufei was speaking again in soft dejected tones of someone fully defeated and giving in to that defeat. It pained him to see Wufei looking like this but he had to know the truth.

"I'm sorry Duo, we were never officially married. I never turned in the marriage certificate so it was never legalized…."

Violet eyes filled with insult, indignation, and fury as he silently urged Wufei to explain. Dark eyes widened as he saw all of emotions playing out in the violet orbs and he started to get very anxious. "It's not what you think! I did-do! Love you!" He grabbed Duo's hands then holding them tightly in between his own.

"I honestly just kept forgetting at first and then I went on assignment and when I came back Sally confronted me with a proposition."

The word 'proposition' made Duo's eyes narrow. This was the part where he hears all about how Sally was the real love of Wufei's life. He readied himself for the hurt that would hit at the sound of those words.

"Here's where it gets weird. Now you _have_ to listen to the whole thing before you make a judgement ok?"

At Duo's nod he quickly continued, sounding oddly relieved at the telling of his story.  
"Ok first off you know that I came back from assignment and asked you if you wanted kids then, correct?" Duo nodded, he did remember. He was extremely excited to hear that Sally had offered to be their surrogate. He had always wanted children so for him it was a dream come true.

Wufei took a deep breath obviously readying himself for the rest. "Alright, well here's what happened. Sally came to me and we started up a conversation on families. She then said that she somehow just knew you wanted kids and thought you would make an amazing parent, which you do by the way."

Duo's quick nod of thanks encouraged him to continue on but still in the same dulcet tones as he had been.

"She then offered to be our surrogate. There was only one problem, Preventers had a strict policy that all female employees _must_ be married before getting pregnant. Only once they are wed according to Preventers standards, will they allow birth control to be stopped. Also, you have to apply to have the regulation birth control implants removed in order to get pregnant. It's a ridiculous process but it prevents any accidents which would result in loss of personnel.

"So, then she asked me if I had turned in our marriage certificate yet and I told her, no, not yet. She smiled then and came up with the whole thing. We ended up getting "married" but I swear to you Duo it was in name only! And it was for us! I never did it to hurt you!"

Duo sighed heavily. This was certainly not what he had expected. "Why didn't you just explain it to me? I would have understood. I also want to know why you invited the guys to your wedding with Sally but not only was I not informed, but I was not invited either. You didn't even invite them to our wedding and I wanted them there!"

Wufei looked confused for a minute, "I take it Quatre told you that I invited him?" Duo nodded feeling dismayed and confused by the onslaught of emotions he was currently feeling.

"Ok, let me explain a little better. Preventers wants to be sure you are wed so they take care of everything: ceremony, invitations, legalities, payment, everything. Sally wanted it to just be us and one witness but Une got a mite bit carried away. It was still relatively small and casual as far as weddings go, but she did invite all the guys." It was Wufei's turn to let out a big sigh before continuing.

"Here's where I'm confused though. You told me once, when we first met up after the war that you didn't want to bother everyone else in their lives. Maybe I misunderstood you or took it the wrong way but I assumed that meant you really didn't want to see them. I thought it brought up too many bad memories for you so I politely declined any and all invitations from them. I really was just trying to protect you…." he trailed off biting his bottom lip worriedly, "I screwed up didn't I? Everything I did was just the opposite of what you wanted wasn't it?"

Duo let out a growl of frustration. He came here thinking and assuming the absolute worse of Wufei and it turns out it was nothing but a case of bad judgments and misunderstandings. He ran his fingers through his hair before standing up. He couldn't believe any of this. It was all so ridiculous that he didn't know whether to be mad or sad or happy or what to be.

"You kept things from me, lied to me, beat me, and never once attempted to communicate with me properly. You kept my friends from me out of a stupid misunderstanding, and wouldn't even let them come to our wedding. I'm pissed as hell at you for all of that, but I do understand your reasoning and I see that you were in reality thinking of me with every move you made. You made some very poor calls though 'Fei." He stood up and started pacing as he talked, hands waving animatedly, and braid swinging out wildly.

Wufei's eyes filled with tears as he moved from the couch to kneel in front of Duo. He grabbed at Duo and stared up at him with pleading eyes. "Please don't leave me Duo! I love you! You're all I have!"

Duo stared down at him with shock in his eyes. He couldn't believe this was the same Wufei he had 'thought' he married. "Get up Wufei, you're making an ass of yourself." He stated coldly watching with disdain as he pulled himself back onto the couch, tears now flowing freely down his cheeks.

"I want you to listen and listen well Wufei 'cause I'm only going to tell you this once. I may run and hide, but I _never_ lie! I trusted you and you lied to me! I cannot be with you if I cannot trust you. You need to get yourself together and decide what you really want in life. This whole time I've been here you've not once asked about the kids, _your_ kids. You're not ready for a family Wufei. I am leaving you, but if you quit drinking and work on becoming an honest individual, then there is a good possibility that we could be friends again one day. But that is all you can ask for, and that is all I am willing to give."

Wufei was crying fully now breaths coming out short and shaky as he nodded. "I did love you Wufei, you were all I had as well, but now I'm ready to live my life. I will always be grateful for the good times we had and for my two beautiful children. Call me when you have figured things out and we'll work on the legalities for the children. I wish to change their names to Maxwell since I am going back to just that as well."

Wufei let out one more shaky nod before going completely still and silent. Duo sighed in resignation and knelt down in front of the other man wrapping his arms around him in an awkward embrace. "I'm sorry Wufei, but it really cannot be any other way. I do love you, but I no longer trust you. Promise me you'll do as I ask?"

Wufei slowly wrapped his arms around Duo and returned the embrace, albeit with a lot more need then Duo. He gently tugged Duo up and onto his lap, and the braided man actually allowed this. Duo ended up straddling Wufei as they continued to embrace one another. Wufei was shaking with silent sobs now. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry…." He kept mumbling out.

"Shhh… Wufei, it's going to be alright." He started to rub gentle circles on the others back in slow soothing motions. When Wufei still continued to mumble out apologies he made the decision to quiet him in another way and gently leaned down to capture the full pink lips with his own.

One thing that Duo would never complain about was Wufei's prowess in bed. The man was very good at making Duo melt.

The kiss was meant to be comforting, calming, and soft but quickly changed. Wufei began to pour all of his desperation and regret into the kiss alarming Duo at first. When he felt the first flick of Wufei's tongue across his lower lip he almost pulled away, then decided to give Wufei this on last gift. It would be the last time he would ever kiss the man after all. So he softly parted his lips and allowed the Asian to explore and tease every crevice of his mouth before those delicious lips left his and started a trail down his neck.

He got lost in the passion for a moment and almost went with it until he felt Wufei start to push up his shirt. At the feel of a rough hand on his very sensitive sides he was slammed back to reality and very gently pushed Wufei back while pulling his shirt back into place. He gave Wufei a beaming smile and a quick peck on the cheek before standing up.

"I should go. We are both adult enough to know that sleeping together, as wonderful as it would feel, would just complicate things more."

Wufei just stared at the ground, a frown creasing his brows as the realization of rejection finally hit him. He hastily ran a hand through his hair before also standing up. "I'll walk you to the door."

Duo nodded and followed him grabbing his jacket on his way through the kitchen. Once at the door he looked Wufei in the eyes once more. "Take care of yourself ok? I wasn't kidding, I really will be your friend, but you have to fix yourself first."

Wufei just nodded and gave Duo a small smile, "I promise. Can I call you sometimes? Just to talk? I-I think it would help me to recover faster if I had at least one friend…."

Duo finally gave Wufei a true smile, one filled with hope, "Of course! As soon as I get settled I will send you my contact information." He then leaned over and gave Wufei a small kiss on the cheek before opening the door and stepping outside. "Goodbye Wufei." He stated and walked down the steps and out of his old home for the last time, finally ready to start a new life.

Yay! All done with chapter 6! I hope you all enjoyed it and it actually made sense! If I made any mistakes please please let me know and I will fix them right away! Also, I realize that I could just end the story here, but really this is just the beginning. ;) There's still a long way to go, he's got a whole new life to start and so does Wufei.

So, do you still hate Wufei? What are your thoughts on what he did? Reviews please! Any and all would be great!

Btw, I got the idea about the Preventers policy from the Navy. Now it happens all the time that people get pregnant unexpectedly, but we practically get birth control shoved down our throats. They are always preaching on safe sex and what not and my command is REALLY big on the whole marriage before kids thing, which makes sense. So there it is!

Once again, REVIEW please! Love you guys and thank you sooo much for the support!


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Ok so here we go! Another chapter! This chapter is dedicated to each and every one of my followers. I love you all! This chapter has a sort of surprise in it! Although I'm sure most of you can already guess where I'm going to go from here. That's ok though, even if you can predict what will happen, the goal is that you still enjoy reading it anyway.

Ok so warnings for this chapter are….. fluffiness? The whole story is Yaoi so that's a given but other than that I don't really think there is anything bad or worth warning you about. Do let me know if I missed something though!

Ok enough chat, on with the story!

Chapter 7

New Pasts and Old Beginnings

The first thing that assaulted Duo's senses as he entered Quatre's mansion was the loud peel of his kids laughter followed by several rounds of squealing and even a little bit of snorting from his son.

He was pleased that they were getting along so well with Quatre. Knowing that they had someone else in their lives meant the world to him. He hummed softly to himself feeling truly happy for the first time in weeks and was pleased at how well things went with Wufei.

He had been expecting a huge blow up from the other man and was surprised that that never happened. Wufei had seemed truly sorry, he even cried a bit, but he never showed any of that anger that Duo was now sadly used to seeing. Maybe the other man really was trying to change.

Duo shrugged and followed the keening sounds of laughter down the marble lined hallway. He opened his mouth to call out to them just as he was rounding the corner and stopped dead in his tracks. His call of greeting cut off completely as the words died in his throat. The person playing with his children was not Quatre. In fact, it was the last person Duo ever expected to see ever again.

He stood in the doorway gaping and taking in the sight in front of him as a man would take in a masterpiece artwork. It had been nearly ten years and even though he had changed, Duo would still recognize him anywhere. He'd grown taller, now maybe just a few inches shorter than Quatre so around 5'11'' or so Duo guessed, although that was a bit hard to determine considering the man was currently prancing around on all fours chasing after his children. His back was to Duo as he pretended to be a tiger or some other fierce creature.

Duo couldn't make a sound, they hadn't noticed him yet so that allowed him to continue to observe the other man. He wasn't just tall, he was _very_ well muscled, but not to the point that it looked awkward. Some men would get so buff they couldn't put their arms down at their sides and ended up walking around looking like a penguin because of it. No, he was well muscled with just the perfect amount of definition, arms not too big but were definitely noticeably larger than average. He was on all fours facing away from Duo giving the braided man a wonderful view of a very firm, round, _perfect_ ass.

He forced his eyes to trail up and was met with a thick head of tousled chestnut hair. The type of look that screamed, "I just got laid!" or "I just rolled out of bed". Duo had always loved that hair and used to dream about running his fingers through it. What would it feel like? Would it be rough and coarse? Or would it be soft and silky and slip through his fingers smooth as water?

Duo quickly shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts. He knew if he kept on that train he would regret it. He was firmly brought back to the present when a loud cry of "Daddy!" rang through the air and in a blur his daughter came flying over to him.

He gave a happy smile and opened his arms for his daughter as she ran into him, her small arms wrapping firmly around his legs. "Hi sweetie, how are you? Were you good for Uncle Quatre while I was gone?"

The little girl looked up at her father, violet eyes sparkling and dancing with excitement, she nodded vigorously before talking. "Yup! I was vewwy good! I made a fwiend!" she said pointing across the room.

He looked up then and his eyes suddenly met the intense cobalt blues of, "Heero…" he barely whispered the name, too afraid that by saying his name this would all somehow vanish into dust pieces.

Heero smiled brightly then, a sight so foreign and dazzling that it froze Duo completely. He was astounded. The blue eyed man was always gorgeous but when he smiled he was indescribable, no words could possibly express the beauty that Duo was currently seeing.

"Duo, its good to see you" he spoke, the words slipping out in a deep silken sultry voice that sent a chill of desire shooting straight down Duo's spine causing his legs to feel like jelly.

The words were spoken so softly that Duo almost missed them, especially since all he heard was the voice, but no words. His voice had deepened over the years as well, not much, not even a noticeable amount to most, but to Duo it was very noticeable. Gone was the 15-17 year old Duo had fallen in love with and in his place was this amazing, beautiful, angel with a smile as dazzling as the morning sun and a voice so tempting and sensuous it nearly sent Duo to his knees. He couldn't speak, couldn't think , couldn't even blink, all he could do was stand there with his mouth agape and eyes half lidded with desire.

It took his daughter tugging on his hand for him to realize he was gawking and practically drooling. Shaking himself out of his daze he finally managed to squeak out a response. "Its good to see you too… Why are you here?" He wasn't trying to sound cold or rude but he was genuinely curious as to why Heero was suddenly there and not out with Relena. Last he had heard, the man was still "guarding" the ex-queen.

It was Heero that broke eye contact first, turning away to focus on the kids toys now strewn about the room. "I come here every year at this time, as does Trowa. Its Quatre attempt to keep us all together, well as much as possible anyway…" he trailed off as he looked past Duo and out the door eyes radiating ice towards the painting on the hallway wall. Duo snuck a glance behind him to see what had caught the dark haired man's eyes and scowled himself. The painting was some ugly drivel that he supposed was meant to be a form of modern art. It looked like someone had thrown up on the canvas and called it art. I was colorful that was for sure, but not pretty colors or hues that you would want to see. There was more red then anything and some puke greens and browns that were really unappetizing.

Duo shook his head and quickly looked away from the painting and back to Heero whom was studying him silently, his expression turning almost sentimental. "Can we go to the study and talk? It has been a while…."

With nothing more than a grunt and a nod, Heero swiftly turned and led the way leaving Duo to follow. Duo just shook his head, 'some things will never change' he thought. "Eliza can you take Toby to Uncle Quatre? Then you can go play on your own ok?" he spoke quickly and ran off to follow Heero without even waiting for his daughters reply.

It was an increasingly good thing that Eliza was so much like him, since she was already incredibly independent even at just five years old. It meant that he could trust her to understand more than the average child.

He met Heero in the study, which was really just a smaller living room. As he entered he studied the room. It was very cosey. It had two couches in it, one against each wall opposite of each other, two arm chairs also opposite each other one in between each couch and several book cases filled with books.

The one free bit of wall space was covered with a beautifully ornate fireplace that was at least six feet wide with the mantle sitting a good eight feet from the ground. It was quite beautiful with stone surrounding it and two giant marble carved lions on either side of the mantle.

On top of the mantle were several pictures of Heero, Quatre, and Trowa. One was of all of them obviously at the circus as Trowa was in his clown suit, his arm slung casually around Quatre's shoulders with big smiles on both of their faces. Heero was there too, but he was just standing next to the pair with a slight smirk on his face. Another picture showed them all at a skiing resort complete with ski's in their arms, once again with Quatre and Trowa hugging and Heero off to the side, although Heero did look a lot happier in this one and appeared to be laughing. The next picture showed them all sitting on the couch throwing popcorn at each other, Heero looked to be concentrating on his target which appeared to be Quatre as Trowa was reaching for more out of their giant bowl and Quatre was caught in the act of throwing a whole handful. Duo chuckled softly at the picture, that looked like it had been a fun night. He was sad to have missed it.

The last picture on the mantle was, to Duo's surprise, one of all of the pilots. He remembered this one as it was taken on the day they ended the war. The picture was really quite terrible if you took the time to really look at it.

From the first glance it looks great with each pilot standing in front of his respective Gundam smiling happily that they had won. Upon closer inspection though you can see Quatre holding his side as he continued to bleed, which was stupid really. He should have gone straight to a hospital instead of waiting to have a stupid picture taken. Also you can see how dirty they all were from the hours of battling they had gone through. They were all wounded in some way, their Gundams were a mess, they looked tired and miserable and it was obvious that none of the smiles were real, and Quatre was freaking bleeding, overall a really terrible picture. The worst part of it was that they ended up lining them all up the next day for a more official picture and that one turned out quite nice. He had assumed the original had been destroyed since it portrayed the severity of war so well.

A hand landing on his shoulder caused him to gasp and jump as a voice whispered in his ear, "That one is Quatres favorite. It's the only one he has of the five of us together. We've missed you Duo." Duo turned around then and was surprised to find just how close Heero was to him.

With no way to back up he eventually stepped to the side with a smile. "Well he should have kept the second one they took, it looked much better than that." He chose the big comfy looking arm chair to sit in and Heero chose the couch right next to it, both plopped down at the same time.

It was Heero who spoke up first, once again surprising Duo. "First off I have to ask one thing. Was it true what Wufei told us? That you didn't want to be bothered by us?"

Duo let out a frustrated sigh, "No! I _had_ told Wufei when we first met up, some two years after the war that I hadn't taken the time to seek you guys out because I didn't want to bother you as you all tried to create new lives for yourselves. I think I may have also mentioned, in an offhanded sort of way, that it would probably remind me too much of the war anyway to meet up with you and that would be hard. Wufei, unfortunately, took everything I said literally and went off and told you guys to stay away."

He gripped the couch tightly as he talked suddenly getting angry at Wufei all over again. A grunt from Heero brought his attention back. "Wufei not only told us to leave you alone, he also hid you, and quite effectively. I never once stopped looking, and as you can tell, I never found you. For that I am sorry. I have failed as your friend." Heero bowed his head, hands gripping his knees in a white knuckled grip.

Duo frowned, "Heero, you didn't fail me. Please, whatever you do, don't feel that way. I'll admit that I thought you all hated me since you never even appeared to try and see me, but I know the reason now and I understand. I'm not mad at you, and I don't hate you, but I would love to try and be your friend again. If you'll have me?" He was fidgeting now wringing his hands together and refusing to look at Heero. This was the first time he had ever asked anyone to be their friend and he half expected Wufei to jump out and attack him while calling him a cheater.

It was then that he truly felt the full weight of what Wufei had done, and it hurt. He could have been friends with everyone else if Wufei had just allowed him some freedom, hell he could have even made _new_ friends but, nooooo that wasn't allowed.

Heero watched as the thoughts ran through Duo's head. He wasn't sure what the braided man was thinking, but whatever it was he needed to put a stop to it and fast because it was obviously hurting him. His shoulders were slumping more and more, and he was looking progressively more dejected with every shuddering breath.

Heero's fists clenched in rage. He knew Wufei was behind this behavior, Quatre had told him just a fraction of what happened, just enough to explain the unexpected children running around. He didn't understand how anyone could hurt such a kind hearted, wonderful soul such as Duo.

Once he had calmed himself down enough he moved himself over to Duo's chair easing him over so he could sit as well. It was a really big chair and he gently pulled the braided wonder into his arms in a tight embrace.

Duo stiffened as soon as the arms went around him. His first instinct was to panic then fight back, but as he breathed in the deep scent of sandlewood emanating off of Heero, he couldn't help but to relax.

Being wrapped in Heeros warm embrace was everything Duo had dreamed it would be, and more. It was inviting, comforting, and it made him feel incredibly safe. He practically melted into it especially when Heero started rubbing soothing circles onto his back. By the time Heero pulled away he was practically purring.

Duo had always been a very physical person. He loved and felt a great need to touch others. It was almost an obsession. A small touch to the arm, a warm hug to a friend, an arm slung across a shoulder, It didn't matter what kind of touch it was, as long we he was touching in some way.

He had tried during the war to get Heero to touch him back in some way. He had hoped for a hug or even a lingering touch but the man was like a marble carving back then all stone with no emotion, all the more reason why this new Heero surprised the heck out of him, not that he was complaining.

Tentatively he gently embraced Heero back, afraid that any movement from him would scare the other man off. To his greatest relief it did the exact opposite; Heero hugged him even tighter and Duo thought he heard the other man let out of relieved sighed. It was music to his ears.

After a few silent moments Heero slowly and gently pulled away from Duo giving him a sweet smile before dropping his arms completely. "Why don't you tell me what's happened, everything up till now."

Duo sighed but then slowly started his story. He told Heero everything, the wedding, the babies, the beatings, seeing Quatre for the first time, and even his reunion with Wufei.

Heero's brows creased in concern, "That's all? He just let you go? That doesn't make any sense" he said looking increasingly concerned. "Duo, I don't know how much you know about human psychology but when people hide others away and beat them, they don't just let them go that easily. I guarantee he will be back, and with a vengeance. He has control and trust issues in which are magnified by his drinking."

Duo visably shuddered at Heero's words suddenly afraid. "I don't know Heero… he was crying and everything. I've never seen Wufei cry. I thought he seemed pretty sincere."

Heero sighed rubbing his eyes in frustration, "Duo, listen, He probably had a few drinks before you ever even showed up. Not enough to get drunk, but just enough to take the edge off of the hangover he probably had."

"Hair of the dog that bit ya… yeah I guess that makes sense, but so what? He definitely wasn't drunk and knew exactly what was going on." Duo interjected pointedly.

"Yes exactly, he was "normal" at that point. But you know as well as I that one doesn't just quit a habitual practice overnight. _IF_ he is serious about quitting then he will need professional help to do so. I assure you that right now he is probably drinking." Heero pulled Duo into his arms again radiating protectiveness towards the other.

Duo pushed Heero back just enough to look the other man in the eyes, "So, he can't get to me or the kids so that should be it right? I'm sure that he will get help and once he is clean we can at least be friends again, right?" Duo looked up into Heeros deep blue eyes, hope radiating out of his own violets.

Heero just shook his head sadly. "Duo, do you realize that alcohol only brings out truths? Whatever you are feeling while you get drunk will intensify once you are drunk. Ever heard of the seven deadly sins?"

A small nod was Duo's only response as Heero continued. "The seven deadly sins are; lust, greed, gluttony, envy, sloth, pride, and wrath. If he has committed any of these, or even thought about them while drunk, he will definitely commit them while drunk and they will be done on a much grandeur scale than before. Do you understand where I'm going with this?" he asked

Duo frowned, "So if he was already prideful or greedy before then once he gets drunk he'll act on those thoughts and be worse about them then before, correct?"

"That's exactly it Duo. Now do you see why I'm worried for you?" Duo hmm'd softly in response still thinking about everything Heero had said. He didn't want to believe that the angry Wufei that had beat him was the real Wufei. He wanted to believe that the Wufei he had (thought) he married was the real one. The Wufei he fell in love with. Even now, while sitting as close to Heero as he was, he still loved Wufei.

With a sigh of frustration he gently pulled himself out of Heero's arms and stood up. "I'm sorry," he said softly while running his hand through his bangs, "I think I need to be alone for a while. I'm going up to my room." He turned towards the door and reached for the knob just as two arms wound their way around his waist. He was pulled into a solid chest and Heero's voice suddenly appeared in his right ear. "You don't have to worry or be afraid anymore. I'm here now Duo and I will protect you."

Heero couldn't help it, the urge to bury his head in the thick hair at the base of Duo's neck was too strong to resist and he did it before he even realized he was doing it. He inhaled deeply enjoying the fresh scent of lavender and tea tree oil from Duo's shampoo. As he spoke his lips brushed against Duo's neck causing the other man to shiver and let out a small gasp. He tightened his arms around the other mans waist. "I've really missed you, you know? Seeing you here and now is like a dream and I don't want to let you go."

Duo groaned inwardly. Gods above he had wanted this forever and now here it was being handed to him! He knew he couldn't do anything he was just too messed up for any of that. Lucky for him Wufei had never tried to rape him or do anything sexual to him while he was drunk, for that he was very thankful. However, it did make moments like this incredibly hard to resist.

While Heero was busy placing small kisses on Duo's neck and trailing down to his shoulder, Duo was having a war with himself. Basically he was playing Pro's and Con's with himself about letting Heero ravish him right then and there.

The Pro's were he would get to sleep with Heero and that was a damn fine pro and definitely worth at least three con's. The Con's were; 1: he had just gotten out of a rocky relationship and had trust issues, 2: He didn't even know if Heero was married or with Relena or even Gay! Ok so the moves he was making were kind of stating the obvious to that point, but still! 3: Heero had not told him out right that he liked him and he needed to hear that more than anything. He heaved a sigh as he realized that the con's really did outweigh the one AMAZING pro.

By the time his mind had caught up to the situation, his body had already betrayed him and his head had rolled to the side just perfectly to give Heero more space for his attention. Duo blinked a few times to draw himself back and immediately straightened up.

Heero noticing the sudden change in posture pulled back just slightly but kept his arms firmly around Duo's middle. "I apologize, I should not have done that so soon. I don't regret doing it, and I'm not sorry I did, but I understand that it is far too soon for you."

Duo turned around to face Heero and brought his arms up lacing his fingers together behind Heero's neck. Slowly while maintaining eye contact, he slid his fingers through the thick, messy chestnut hair and was amazed to find it silky smooth and soft to the touch. When Heero's eyes closed Duo took that as a good sign and began to gently message Heero's scalp.

"Gods Duo…." Heero began while pulling him closer and into a tighter embrace. Duo continued his ministrations for another minute and slowly stopped as he watched Heero. He got a sudden somber feeling and suddenly felt like crying.

Here he was, in Heero's arms finally after nearly ten years. He may have thought he was in love with Wufei but he realized now that he had never once stopped loving Heero. The understanding of his feelings hit him like a ton of bricks. He knew now that he had pushed his feelings for Heero deep down inside himself forcing them into a deep hibernation with the hopes that they would go away or lessen over time. It came as a surprise to him that once those feelings were reawakened they were not only still there, but stronger than ever. Just seeing the man had reawakened them and being in his arms doing what he had always dreamed of doing, is what was making them stronger.

Heero tightened his hold on Duo once the feeling of fingers in his hair ceased. He knew Duo was thinking too hard about everything and was going to pull away soon. It may have been ten years, but Heero could still read Duo like an open book and he could easily guess what the braided ex-pilot was going to do. He still didn't understand the way Duo's mind worked, but that was something else entirely.

The feeling of arms tightening around him quickly drew him back to the present and he gently pressed back on Heero's arms ready to run once more as fear started to ebb its way up his spine. Heero felt the sudden shift but instead of letting Duo go, he just locked his arms in place and brought his head down so his lips were right next to Duo's ear. In a soft sultry whisper he said, "I lost you once from letting you go too soon, I'll not lose you again. I'm not letting go until I'm sure you're not going to run."

The soft brush of lips against the shell of his ear sent a jolt of desire shooting straight to Duo's groin. He could feel the heat and pressure building up and knew he had to end this fast or he would do something he would regret. Well…. Maybe not regret exactly, but it would certainly cause complications in which he did not need right now. Things were plenty complicated enough as they were.

"Heero…." He started softly "I won't run….." he trailed off finding it increasingly difficult to tell Heero to let him go. Truth was, he didn't want to ever lose the warmth and safety those arms provided.

With a deep regretful sigh Heero slowly let his arms fall back to his sides but did not step back from Duo. He may have let his arms fall but he still was not letting the other go just yet.

"Duo….you must know I-" Heero started but was cut off as Duo quickly brought up the one thing that he really needed to know. "So! How's the pink princess? You two married yet? You've been together so long it would certainly make sense. I mean its been what? Ten years? Heh heh…" He trailed off with nervous laughter as he saw the look of increasing horror growing on Heero's face.

Heero blinked a few times and took a deep breath in order to get his emotions under control before responding to Duo's questions, "Duo, I do not know what you have heard but Relena and I were never together. I was simply her bodyguard and nothing else." Duo made as if he was going to say something but stopped when Heero gave him a pointed stare that clearly said stop. "I was her personal guard for 3 years after the war. After that I found others to take over the job and I became head of security and have spent the past six or so years training."

Duo looked down as he felt Heero's hand gently grab his. Violet eyes widened as his hand was brought up to Heero's lips and a soft chaste kiss placed upon the knuckles. "Trust me please Duo. Relena never meant anything more to me than a job, a means to an end for a soldier without a mission."

Azure eyes followed as Duo pulled his hand back and looked at it as if it had suddenly changed shape. "You've really changed Heero….."

The soft whisper would have been lost on anyone else, but Heero had amazing hearing and of course heard every word. "Yes Duo, I have. Its all because of you."

Duo looked up sharply confusion glowing brightly in his violet eyes. He tried to ask how but suddenly found himself at a loss for words.

"You may not believe me when I say that, but its true Duo. Before I met you I had never experienced 'fun'. Everything I had done up until that point was for some mission or other, never just because I could. Then you came along and kept bugging me to do these things that never made any sense."

At Duo's exasperated look he back tracked slightly trying desperately to get Duo to understand. "Oh! As you know I resisted at first, we were in a war after all and my missions were most important. But, by the end of the first war everything you were trying to show me suddenly started to make sense. By the time the second war came around I found myself already changing…."

A memory popped up in Duo's mind then from the second war of them both in a shuttle with him piloting. He remembered Heero's statement of counting on his piloting skills and looking over at the other man to see the ghost of a smile on his face. At the time he had thought he was imagining it, but maybe he wasn't. Did Heero really start changing that early on?

"By the time I recovered from the second war you had already left to live with Hilde and everyone else had gone their own ways. I didn't know what to do with myself so I just did what I knew I could do and guarded Relena. Then I heard you and Wufei were together and honestly almost gave up everything after that. If it wasn't for Quatre I wouldn't even be here today…."

Duo's eyes widened and flashed with anger, "What do you mean you wouldn't even be here today?" he demanded his voice surprisingly steady and firm.

Heero visibly flinched at Duo's potent glare. "Well, I went through a rather self-destructive phase once I heard that you didn't want to see any of us. I took on several dangerous missions from the preventers and almost died on the last one. Quatre somehow found me just in time and dragged me to the hospital. In all truth the wound should not have been fatal, but I had given up the will to live and was more than ready to meet my maker. I'd lost all purpose for my life and didn't know which way to turn."

He shook his head free from the memory and turned his eyes back to Duo who was looking extremely angry with his hands balled up into tight fists at his sides and eyes blazing. "Baka!" he screamed as he pulled roughly away from Heero.

"Of all the stupid…. Insane, crazy things you've done! This one just takes the cake! How could you do something like that, Heero? Did you think no one would care? That there would be no one to mourn you, that was an incredibly selfish thing to do!" he was pacing the room throwing his hands up and waving them around as he spoke.

Heero flinched and continued to speak once Duo seemed done. "I know all that now, but at the time I did believe that no one would mourn me." He paused to look away either in shame or fear before speaking the next part. "Once I heard that you had moved on and married Wufei, and then didn't want to see me, I just gave up. Without you I felt that there was no one…."

Duo stopped pacing and sat back down heavily next to Heero in shock. "So its my fault…." He started but didn't get very far as Heero was shooting that idea down immediately. "No! Don't you EVER think that Duo! The only ones at fault here are Wufei and I. Wufei for doing what he did and me for believing it." He grabbed Duo by the shoulders once again and looked him straight in the eyes. "Please don't ever feel like its your fault."

Violet eyes were swimming with unshed tears causing them to look more like sparkling amethysts. Heero felt as if he had never seen anything more beautiful in his entire life and he longed to hold the braided man and never let him go. "Oh god Heero! What if you had died? Everyone I have ever loved has died I couldn't bare it if you were gone as well!"

Heero was puzzled by this, Wufei was still alive and he loved him right? What about his kids? And most important, did that mean that he loved him? Was Duo in love with him?

Tears were now streaming down Duo's face and his shoulders shook with the sobs he was trying so hard to hide. It was apparent even to Heero that Duo was overwhelmed by everything at this point. Maybe he had said too much too soon. He was never very good at social protocol and probably never would be. He sat for a moment unsure of what to do before wrapping his arms once again around Duo in an attempt to sooth him. "Shhh…. Duo, that's not true. You still have your kids and well you did love Wufei and he's still alive so you haven't lost everyone…. And, well this may be presumptuous of me but you still have me as well."

Realizing that Duo was now just crying harder he decided to just hold the other man and let him cry it out. It was obvious to Heero that Duo was worn out. He probabaly had not been sleeping well with everything going on. After a few minutes the sobs died down as Duo had literally cried himself to sleep. Heero smiled at the sight and whispered almost too softly to hear, "I'm so thankful to have you back in my life. I'll never let you go again Duo."

Unbeknownst to Heero Duo was still just awake enough to have heard just the tail end of what Heero was saying and unfortunately it did not have the effect on Duo that Heero had hoped for. In fact it had just the opposite.

Duo abruptly woke and stood up all in one fluid motion before turning to Heero, eyes still red from crying, "You'll never let me go? Hate to break this to you Heero, but you WILL let me go. I do not belong to you and will not be owned by another! I walked that path once and will not ever do it again. If that's what you want is to own me than you'd better just leave now and save us both the pain that such a relationship would cause."

"Duo, I-" Heero started to try and explain what he meant to Duo but the braided man was already out the door slamming it shut behind him. Heero swore to himself and decided that he would give the man time to cool down before he approached him again. He would apologize and explain to Duo that he didn't want to OWN him, he wanted to be with him, as equals. He had to make Duo understand, he just had to!

THE END (of chapter 7)

Sorry this took soooo long to write I had a lot going on, mainly working 26 days straight without a day off, but I had today off, so YAY! Happy Independence Day to everyone! I hope you had a wonderful one.

Also, I hope this chapter made sense and flowed alright. I've been writing a little bit each night before bed, but since my doctor just gave me some pills to help me sleep each bit I wrote was really small and I was fighting the pills effects in order to do it. So if its terrible and makes no sense please let me know and I'll fix it. I want you all to be happy with it, but my sleep induced mind says its good to go, which means nothing really. Lol So anyway as always R&R!

The next chapter will be out within 2 weeks! We still have a long way to go! Oh! And expect the rest of the chapters to be at least as long as this one.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Ok everyone! Here is another chapter finally! Sorry it has taken soooo long. My life has been super crazy lately. Anyway, I want to start off by thanking all of my reviewers and followers, so THANK YOU! You are what keep me going! On that same note I have to respond to a review on here because I cannot find the review itself anywhere now to respond to it. It was a wonderful review and unfortunately I cannot even remember the name of the person that sent it. So, that being said here is my response.

First off thank you for the review, I always love to hear peoples opinions. Unfortunately I do not currently have a beta in which to bounce idea's off of so I'm just going with whatever comes to mind. I agree with you on some points but others I will have to argue in my favor. First point made was that Duo is an ex gundam pilot as well and could have hacked into the records at any time to find they were not really married. My defense for this is that I honestly can't think of any reason why he would have done that. Yes he had the skills to, but why would he? He trusted the guy, he signed the marriage certificate, and just assumed that was it. What reason would he have had to go hacking into computers to see if they were really married? To me that makes perfect sense, but please enlighten me if I am just crazy and my logic makes no sense. I mean, I'm married and once I got that certificate I'm good. Its just a piece of paper anyway so what does it matter? That's just my opinion though. On the next point you made you felt that Heero was wayyy too OOC. I guess I can see that. My only defense on that point is that it had been close to 10 years since the end of the war. Heero in my mind had changed, with the help of Quatre of course. I guess I didn't do a very good job trying to point out how close he and Quatre are but I will try and do better in the future. As far as still trusting Duo, he had always trusted and cared for Duo and had never known how to show it before. Heero strikes me as a do or die, all or nothing, sort of character so in my mind seeing Duo again he felt like he suddenly had a chance to show the other man everything he'd been hiding before. So, do or die right? I don't know if I am making any sense at all but I hope I am. BTW I'm sure that by now you know who you are and I do hope you will respond to this with more juicy suggestions and opinions! Btw, you wanna become my beta? Lol seriously though, if you have the time and are interested at all please let me know! I thank you again for the wonderful review! As I've said before I welcome constructive criticism. So, now that I have said all of that on to the story!

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Chapter 8

Live and let… live?

Duo ran into his borrowed room and practically slammed the door behind him. He paced the room as his mind danced wildly around everything that Heero had said and done. The need to run back into Heero's arms was nearly overwhelming and he had to physically restrain himself from turning around.

Once he had finally calmed down he realized how horribly he had acted. He knew Heero didn't mean anything bad by what he had said. Just thinking on it had him flush red with embarrassment and shame. He would have given anything to hear Heero say something like that years ago, and when the man does finally say it, what does he do? He yells at him and runs away. He was such an idiot.

As his mind calmed down he was suddenly hit with extreme weariness causing him to lean heavily against the door and slide slowly to the floor. He sat there for many minutes in a slump, mind blank and eyes dazed. He couldn't even muster up the energy to move, much less get up and go to the bed. He slowly turned his gaze to the bed. It seemed so far away now.

He didn't know how long he sat there just staring at the bed in a silent debate with himself. It was the sound of knocking that slowly drew him out of his stupor and back to the land of the living. With a grunt and a groan he slowly pushed himself up and onto his feet staggering a few times before steadying himself.

The knocking sounded again this time followed by a voice, "Duo?" It was Quatre, probably coming to see what had happened between him and Heero. He cursed himself silently once more before slowly opening the door to reveal a shining smiling blond. "Hello Duo. Welcome back. May I come in?"

Duo almost rolled his eyes at the blonds politeness but stopped himself. That was just the way he was. Although it was definitely much cuter when the guy was smaller, now it was aggravating. He opened the door wider and waved his arm indicating the other should enter.

Once in the room Quatre walked straight over to the bed and sat down on it before patting the place beside him. "Will you sit and talk with me?" he asked. Duo nodded and slowly made his way over and sat beside him.

What happened next surprised the heck out of Duo. Quatre took his hand in his own firm grip and looked him square in the eyes with a glare that would rival Heero's. That was what was so shocking, the look of pure murder that was on the others face and just how scary he was with it, especially now that he was such a big guy. It caused Duo to gasp and jump back in surprise. "Duo," he started, voice also hardened. "I know what Heero said scared you, but I fully agree with him. We finally have you back and there is no way we will _ever_ relinquish you again, no matter what." Duo started to protest but was stopped by a hand from Quatre suddenly right in front of his face. "Don't even try to say anything. I don't care if you like it or not. I don't even care if it makes you feel objectified, you are just going to have to get over that and move on. Heero and I, and Trowa, would _NEVER _do anything to hurt you; nor would we ever keep you from anything. We don't want to _own_ you as Wufei did, but to merely not lose you again." His face softened as he paused and in a gentler tone he continued. "We've missed you terribly Duo. We always loved you. You were the glue that held us all together throughout the war and without you we never would have pushed through to the end." His expression hardened once more before saying in a determined voice "Wufei deserves whatever he gets and more for what he put you through. Do you understand me Duo?"

Duos jaw snapped closed audibly and he just nodded mutely. As soon as he nodded Quatre released his hand and the other mans expression changed immediately. It went from one of the most terrifying glares Duo had ever seen back to innocence and almost angelic grace as only Quatre could do. He was looking more like a Greek God now and less like a Demonic being. All he could do was blink a few times as he tried to register what was happening.

Quatre pulled him into a tight hug before standing and with a smile started to speak once again; only this time Duo heard nothing. He saw the others lips move but heard no sound. He must have given the correct response though because next Quatre nodded and walked brusquely out of the room gently closing the heavy wooden door behind him.

The moment the door clicked closed Duo slumped onto the bed and promptly passed out, the shock of the day finally catching up with his whole body sending him into a deep slumber.

* * *

Duo awoke some hours later to a darkened room and started to panic. At first he had forgotten where he was and believed himself to be back at home with Wufei. After a few panicked shaky breaths he remembered where he was and practically flew out of bed in his haste to find his children. He realized he had been a horrible father as he fell asleep without even making sure they were all right.

He ran to the door and practically ripped it out of its hinges to get it open before darting down the hall. It was pitch black in the hallway and he blindly groped around for what he hoped was the correct door knob.

Once he located the knob he quickly turned it and quietly eased the door open before slipping inside. The room was slightly illuminated by a lit turtle night light plugged in on the far side of the room. Each side of the room held one bed pushed up against the wall. He tiptoed over to one and noiselessly crouched down on the floor beside it.

His eyes scanned the bedtop as he sat and he noticed his son's thick dark hair poking out from underneath the satiny sheets. Duo smiled to himself and chuckled softly remarking to himself how only in Quatres house would childen have satin sheets on their beds. He watched his son sleep for a few moments just taking the young boy in and marveling at his innocence. He ran his hand gently across the boys forehead, brushing several locks of dark hair out of his face before placing a soft kiss on the chubby cheek.

Everything that Quatre had told him made him think a lot. Toby was nothing like him, not in looks or actions. The child looked mostly Asian and resembled Wufei a great deal with the dark hair and pale creamy skin. The only thing that stood him apart from the Chinese was the large blue eyes that he sported. Duo surmised that the child could in fact be the product of Sally and Wufei. It didn't matter though, he loved the boy all the same and would fight to keep him just as much as his daughter no matter what the other man threw at him.

Giving his son one last kiss he slowly stood and made his way across the room and to the other bed this one just slightly higher off the ground than the other. He chose to gently sit on the bed this time rather than kneel beside it and did so with little to no jarring of its occupant. He watched his daughter sleep for a few moments without making any moves to touch her. She, like him, was a rather light sleeper and he did not want to wake her up.

Giving in to the temptation he finally placed a hand tenderly on her cheek before leaning down to place a ghost of a kiss on her forehead. He was just turning to leave when he felt a small hand go around his wrist. He looked back down to see Eliza looking up at him with slit sleepy eyes barely focused. "I love you Daddy…." She whispered out in a sleep induced voice before her hand fell back to the bed and her eyes closed completely once more.

Duo smiled to himself and watched as her breathing evened out indicating she was truly asleep again. "I love you too pumpkin head" he whispered before giving her one last fleeting kiss and rising to back out the door and back to his own room.

As he walked down the darkened hallway he kept his arms out in front of him to avoid running into anything. He was just about to grope around for his door knob when his hand came in contact with human flesh. He let out a loud gasp and made to jump back, but a hand clamped over his mouth and an arm went around his waist effectively silencing him and keeping him still. Before he could make much of a protest he was pulled into his room.

Once the door was firmly closed behind him he was promptly released causing him to stumble forward slightly. He was glad for once that he had left his curtains open allowing the moonlight to spill into the room causing it to be well lit.

He spun around and was about to lay into the person but found himself unexpectedly face to face with none other than Heero. "Heero!" he squawked "What the hell man! You could have said something instead of manhandling me! Shit!" He was aggravated by that point and stomped over to his bed and plopped down onto it with a loud "hmph".

Heero just watched him suddenly at a loss as to what to do. He had been wandering the halls just to pass the time when he noticed Duo coming out of the kids room. He hadn't even thought about what he was doing when he grabbed the other man. Now he didn't know what to do and ended up just standing there, indecision written clearly all across his normally stoic face.

Duo sat in silence for maybe a minute before letting out a growl and jumping back up to stalk over to where Heero was still standing. He grabbed one of Heero's arms and dragged him back to the bed where he pushed him onto it before sitting down himself.

At any other time this would have been a dream come true for Duo. This obedient docile Heero who allowed himself to be pushed onto a bed; Duo almost drooled at the very thought alone. He had to quickly shake his head clear before clearing his throat and shooting a glare towards the still silent Heero.

He suddenly really wanted to scream at the other man. It was just hours ago that he was talking like a normal human, proving to Duo that he had changed, and now he was back to his old ways again; an unattainable stone wall.

What he did next he didn't even think about beforehand. There was no consideration or premeditation involved, in fact, it was almost unintentional. He didn't even realize he was moving and had already committed the atrocity before his brain could catch up.

It wasn't until he saw the first feather fall that he even knew he had done anything at all. One minute he was sitting in anger and the next thing he knew he had a pillow slammed into Heero's face. It wasn't his fist, and probably didn't hurt the other at all, but it still felt good all the same.

He would have laughed at the look on Heero's face if he hadn't been so mad. So instead of laughing he decided to just go with what his body obviously wanted to do and pulled his arm back to hit Heero with the pillow again. He was really getting pissed off now, and was probably over reacting, but he just couldn't help it. He started to add things in in-between hits like "bastard" or "stone face" or anything else he could come up with.

After a few more punctuated hits he was at the point where tears were once again flowing down his face. He finally stopped hitting Heero but instead just held the pillow over the Asian's face, not enough to cut off air, but enough to block his vision. He had stopped hitting Heero, but he hadn't stopped yelling at him. Logically he knew none of it was Heero's fault but he couldn't stop the words that were flowing out of his mouth. They were mean, spiteful, and degrading of the other man but Duo couldn't stop. He had so much anger built up at himself, at Wufei, and at life that he hadn't expressed really. He had come back from seeing Wufei and hadn't really solved anything. To top that off, now Heero was back in his life and he didn't know how to handle it.

"You stupid son-of-a-bitch! I waited two years for you! Two years after the war and you NEVER came to me! You went to her instead! Bastard! Jerk! I loved you! I loved you and still you went with her! You never found me! You're supposed to be the best damned hacker in the universe and you never found me! Screw you, you stone faced freak! I don't want you back in my life! I don't want this feeling to resurface! I was just getting over you and now you have to go and stir things up again!" He was screaming now tears streaming down his face in anger. He took short clipped breaths before continuing to rant. "I don't want to love you anymore! You're cruel, antisocial, and a sociopath! I don't want to love you anymore! Damn-it all! And Damn you! You-" A pair of lips precipitously landed on his own effectively silencing him.

The kiss wasn't hard and didn't last more than an ephemeral moment but still caused sparks to fly and sizzle between them. Duo was so shocked he went completely silent and even stopped his tears. When he finally regained his senses he had to blink several times in order to clear his now hazy vision.

"Duo..." Heero's voice cut through the silence jarring Duo's attention back to life and making him wince at just how broken and pitiful he sounded. "I'm sorry Duo. I do not know what else to say other than that. You are right about everything you said about me. I have no excuses to make, nor do I wish to try. I do however want you to understand one thing; I NEVER stopped looking for you. I _was _supposed to be the best, but even that was not good enough to break through the Preventers network." He paused just long enough to grab Duo's shoulders and give him an angry shake. "Don't you think that the same words have gone through my own mind?! That maybe, just maybe, I am as angry at myself as you are? I messed up Duo! I messed up and I've spent the last _**ten**_ years trying to find you to make up for it, to make it right." He paused to drop his hands back to his side and turned away from Duo suddenly feeling to ashamed to even face him. "I really did try, and I did have feelings for you then but was either unaware or unsure of how to handle them and so I just pushed them down as I always did back then and focused solely on my missions. I'm so sorry Duo. I never meant to hurt you in any way."

Duo's mouth was hanging open in shock at Heero's sudden outburst but he quickly snapped it closed when the other man turned away from him. He didn't know what to do at this point. He knew he had to say something, but everything that was coming to mind sounded so cliché and insincere that he felt it better to just not say anything at all. He wanted to tell the other that it was ok, but it wasn't and it would never be until he could forgive himself. Sometimes that was the hardest part of all; not the forgiving of others, but the forgiving of yourself no matter what the situation.

Once he saw the dejected slump to Heeros shoulders his anger immediately flowed right out of him leaving him feeling once again, drained and listless. He also felt true regret for his words. He didn't really blame Heero, in fact he never did. He had just needed something to yell and scream about for a minute. Now that his tantrum had passed he knew he needed to apologize and soon before he lost Heero completely.

The moon was higher up in the sky by that point signaling that about an hour had passed since he bumped into Heero. As the moonlight flowed gently into the bedroom it washed everything in a silvery hue forcing a distinct glow. Duo gasped as he looked at Heero whom appeared to be glowing in the soft light. He couldn't help but admire the other man's beauty; even now, ten years later, he still couldn't keep his eyes off him.

Slowly thickly to push down the sudden lump in his throat, he finally spoke up. "Heero, I'm sorry. I-" he cut himself off unsure of how to express himself. Ten years away from people had left him with poorly developed social skills, especially in an area such as this. He sighed and pulled Heero into his arms and into a tight embrace. He laid his head on the other man's shoulder and in a hushed whispered voice said, "I didn't mean any of that you know. I guess I just needed to yell and scream about something… I don't really blame you for anything, and I don't want you to blame yourself either. I knew all along that you couldn't hack into that system. It was after all designed by me."

Upon hearing this Heero let out a loud gasp and pushed Duo back and held him out at arms length staring at him with wide shock filled eyes. "You designed it?! How is that-" he cut himself off before he said too much and just stared at at the braided man dumbfounded.

"I guess I just wasn't the fuck-up everyone thought I was huh? I may not have been as great a hacker as you Heero, but I am in a class all my own when it comes to computer security. " He smirked as he watched Heero gape like a fish his mouth opening and closing repeatedly. "After all, it was my job to design a system that even the greatest hacker in the world could not not get into, so in my mind that said a system that even YOU could not crack. It seems as though I succeeded."

"I was never able to break through! I tried every password and code known to man and then some and never even came close!" Heero growled out suddenly feeling very self-conscious

Duo snickered, "Ah Heero. Heero, Heero, Heero…. Would you like to know what the password is?"

Heero raised an eyebrow in response, curious but unsure. "Why would you tell me? What would you gain from that?"

Duo gave a trademark Shinigami grin before answering, "I would gain the satisfaction of watching the surprise cross your face when you hear how simple it is. That would be enough for me to gloat on for the rest of my life. So? What'll it be? Do you want to know?" his hands clapped together as he spoke and he rubbed them together in front of his face, his expression going more feral every second.

Heero paused and thought about it. He realized that he really did want to know. Of course he realized that just knowing the password would never be enough to fully access the system that Duo had in place, but it would be a foot in the door. He started to chew on his bottom lip, a habit he had picked up since the end of the war. Sometimes when he was really concentrating on something he would literally chew a hole into his lip and not even notice until he tasted blood.

Duo watched the emotions; apprehension, curiosity, and concern, all flitter across Heero's face. The whole process was fascinating to him. He had never seen Heero so unguarded and so normal. When he started chewing on his lip Duo almost had a heart attack from the surprise. The gesture was so simple and yet seemed so incredibly foreign on the handsome face. This wasn't the Heero he was used to! This was some stranger sitting in front of him, one with Heero's face and Heero's still amazing body.

As the minutes ticked by the air became increasingly tense. Heero still had not said anything and was still silently sitting while chewing on his lip, trapped in thought. Duo's eyes were riveted to those full lips and the temptation to stop Heero's chewing using his own lips was colossal.

"Alright, I want to know. I also want to know your price for the information. I wont accept that its free". The sound of Heero's voice cutting through the silence jolted Duo's mind away from the gutter causing him to visibly jump.

His eyes were still focused solely on Heero's bottom lip and before he could stop himself he whispered out, "A kiss…" so low that only someone with an acute sense of hearing could have heard it, which means that Heero of course heard it.

He watched in fascination as that wonderful mouth curved up into a small smile and was surprised when it started to get closer. He closed his eyes in anticipation and waited to feel that first brush lush lips against his own.

When nothing came he waited a moment longer before opening his eyes, awareness slowly dawning on him of what he was about to do. He let out a groan of frustration and practically shoved Heero away from him. "I'm sorry Heero, I didn't mean that. I mean…. Ugh! I did mean it, but… I don't know… I don't think I'm ready for anything else right now." He looked down at his hands now folded together in his lap and started to pull at some threads that were sticking out of the bed sheets.

He looked up when a hand suddenly covered his, violet meeting the calm and clear understanding blues of Heero. "Duo, you don't have to explain anything. I know you are not in a position in which you can be free right now. Please, take your time and adjust to your new life before anything else. I am not going anywhere and will be here whenever you are ready, or even if you never are. I'm not leaving you. I said it earlier and I'll say it again. I'll not let you go a second time. "

Duo sighed and in a soft, barely audible, timid voice started to speak, avoiding Heero's eyes as he did so. "This is how everything with Wufei started out. I trusted him so much at first. He also promised he would never leave me, that he would always be there for me. We started out just talking one night and hit it off. It was all perfect. I loved him, I did! Maybe it wasn't the all-encompassing type of love, but it was pure and true. I don't know what to do now. A part of me feels relieved that we are no longer together. Another part misses him and what we had terribly. I don't know what to do now, where to go, or how to move forward."

Heero pulled Duo into a tight hug as the conversation took a turn downhill. "You move forward the same way as everyone else, by putting one foot in front of the other." He whispered into Duos ear, the warmth of his breath caressing the other causing a slight shiver to run through him. Heero suddenly had the urge to find Wufei and put a bullet between his eyes but knew that that would only make Duo even more depressed. No matter how horrible Wufei had been he knew the other didn't deserve to die.

"Am I strange Heero? For feeling that way?" the braided man asked while basking in the warmth Heero's arms provided. He buried his head in Heero's chest and inhaled deeply wanting to savor the moment.

Heero let out a frown and hugged Duo tighter. "No Duo, you're not strange. Not in that way at least." He joked trying to lighten the mood a little.

Duo snorted. "Thanks for that. I wouldn't want to be anything as dull and boring as normal anyhow."

Heero let out a short chuckle. "Normal was not part of the job prerequisites for Gundam Pilots."

Duo almost started laughing at that one. "You got that right buddy! Normal wouldn't have cut it! Only crazy makes the cake for that position!"

Heero laughed along with Duo, it was a short laugh full of disdain but it still helped to lighten the mood. Taking a deep breath Heero finally decided to remind Duo of the password as he was still interested to find out where he had gone wrong. Although, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he would have tried all sorts of different things if he had known it was Duo that created the security program for the Preventers.

Duo chuckled darkly when Heero whispered a single word into his ear, "Password". "Still thinking about that are you?" his inquiry went unanswered so he just continued talking. "Alright I'll tell you. Its stupid simple actually, the hardest part is figuring out just how I put it together. "

Heero raised an eyebrow encouraging Duo to continue which he did. "The password is Heero Yuy." He stated simply staring Heero boldly in the eyes.

Heero's eyes narrowed in thought. That was too simple, even for Duo. "Theres more" he stated knowing that there had to be more.

"Well how very astute of you Heero. Here's where it finally gets a little more complicated. Its your name all right but spelled out using characters from several different languages. If you saw it you could easily figure it out, but without seeing it and without me telling you what languages I used, it can be quite difficult to figure out. " he flashed Heero another Shinigami grin and watched as Heero became deep in thought obviously already wanting to try it out.

"You know I have several programs that could figure the code out for me. All I would have to do is type in my name and it would work through every language until it found the ones that work." He stated easily. His only response was a chuckle.

"Don't you think I thought of that too?" Duo asked the manic gleam in his eyes growing larger by the second. He was obviously truly enjoying the fact that he got one up on Heero. "I have several pieces of protection up against those types of programs. The one you speak of would not only check word by word, it would also check letter by letter. In theory that would eventually work by weeding out all the wrong letter or characters. However, I have set up a spy program to catch little cheater bugs such as those so after one wrong guess on any of the 'letters' it is set to shut down." He gave Heero a sideways look "But, I suspect you already know that don't you? You had to have tried that on it already and failed."

Heero sighed, "Your right. I've tried every program I have but no program has been strong enough to even break through your firewalls. You did good Duo, no Amazing. If you want a job on my security team I would love to have you."

Duo smiled brightly at him and decided to take pity on the poor ex-soldier. "I'll give you a hint that may or may not help. It is made up of four different languages all with characters rather than letters."

Heero's eyes lit up at this and he looked Duo squarely in the eyes. "Alright, Mission Accepted. I will let you know when I have cracked it".

Duo just grinned in response feeling lighter already. "Oh and if you need another hint you'll have to _BEHG_ for it." He said putting special emphasis on the word BEHG wanting to see if Heero understood the clue or not. (He's saying beg but I spelled out the clue for you just in case no one understood that's what I was doing. Lol)

They spent the rest of the night talking amicably until morning, it was the best night Duo had had in a long time and he finally felt as though he could make it through this. His life was just beginning, and he was finally looking forward to what was to happen next.

* * *

AN: First off I know absolutely NOTHING about hacking and very little about computers in general so if none of that makes any sense then I apologize. You'll have to just use your imagination on it. For those of you that are curious as to what Duo did for a password its Heero Yuy spelled out using Bengali, Egyptian, Hindi, and Gujarti (BEHG) all of which I swear are legitimate languages. Here's what it looks like: তিনি ريال عماني वाई બીજી અજ્ઞાત રકમ

As always, R&R! TY!


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Hello again everyone! Life keeps happening so once again I have to apologize for this taking so long. On good news I found out that I will be moving to Japan for three years starting in May 2013, so yay for that! Getting ready for that is going to keep me busy for the next few months though. I will still do my best to update regularly but the most you can expect from me is 1-2 updates a month. This story still has a lot more to it and I want to do it right. So in order to make up for my slow updates, I will try to make each chapter long enough to be worth the wait. Ok enough of that! On to the story!

Warnings: language and adult situations apply here.

Chapter 9

Surprise, Surprise…

Duo sat at the kitchen table with his head in his hand and a cooling cup of coffee in front of him. He was barely awake and was trying desperately to gain some form of energy. He glanced lazily down into his cup at the milky brown liquid and thought about his conversations with Heero.

The Asian man had left around 0800 that morning, ten minutes before the kids came bursting into his room demanding he get up and play with them. He was doing really well until about 1:00 in the afternoon when he suddenly just crashed. All adrenalin drained out of him leaving nothing left to control his body and so he went to the kitchen to make himself some coffee, which he didn't even have the energy to drink.

As he sat there, fighting to stay awake, his mind started to wander over the past 10 years. He couldn't help but wonder if he ever did truly love Wufei. Sure, he loved the guy, but was he IN love with him? Having Heero back, and full of emotions, was like a dream come true. He didn't want to jump into a relationship with the other man so quickly after his breakup, but he couldn't deny the fact that he DID want a relationship with him.

He had to be honest with himself, and the truth was simply that he never fell out of love with Heero and maybe even used Wufei as a sort of rebound. He felt as though he had settled for Wufei since Heero was so thoroughly out of the picture at the time. That thought led him to wonder if Wufei knew that and if that was the reason for his constant paranoia.

He shook his head free of those thoughts. There was no point in justifying what Wufei had done, because no matter the reason, he was still at fault. You can't be abusive and honestly think that its ok.

He sighed heavily and finally took a sip of his now cooled coffee willing the caffeine to speed through his veins in the hope that it would quickly wake him up. He was just about to take another sip when the doorbell rang, pausing him in mid motion of bringing his mug to his lips.

Just as he was about to write off the visitor as unimportant he heard a loud scuffle coming from the front room followed by lots of yelling, thumps, and accentuated by the sound of something glass crashing to the floor.

Jumping up he ran into the foyer skidding to a stop as his eyes landed on the scene in front of him. Both Quatre and Heero stood panting, fists clenched at their sides, looming over some fallen form on the floor. Their backs were to Duo effectively blocking his view of the third person, but he had a good idea of who it was.

"Whats going on here?" he demanded as he took in the scene before him. As soon as he spoke, both Quatre and Heero spun around to face him; both pairs of eyes widening in either surprise or shame as they spotted him.

He finally spotted the visitor now sitting on the floor nursing a freshly broken nose. He walked over and knelt down beside him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder before speaking softly to him. "Wufei, what are you doing here?"

Wufei 's eyes widened, obviously surprised by the gentle treatment before turning away just to avoid Duo's gaze. "I'm sorry." He stated, voice soft.

Duo gave Wufei's shoulder a quick squeeze before standing and turning to face his two attackers. "What is wrong with you!" he shouted pointing an accusatory finger at them. "Quatre, since when have you ever attacked first and asked questions later? And Heero! Ugh!" He stopped talking and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. Without looking at them he waved a hand, "Please just go. I'll deal with you both later for now just let me handle Wufei."

Heero made to protest but Duo just stopped him, "You've done quite enough, thank you! Just go!" he bit out before Heero could say anything.

Quatre pulled on Heero's arm trying to forcefully drag him away. "C-mon Heero, lets just go. We'll all talk later." Heero spared Duo one last glance before allowing himself to be dragged away.

As soon as they were out of sight Duo turned back to Wufei who was still sitting on the floor. He sighed and knelt back down beside him. "So? Why are you here? Somehow I doubt it was to get pounded on by Heero and Quatre."

Wufei let out a sigh before slowly pulling himself to his feet. "I came to talk to you" he stated as he brushed off his pants and tried in vein to wipe some blood off of his shirt.

Duo groaned inwardly, stood up, and grabbed Wufei's arm to drag him off. "Come with me, I'll get you cleaned up first, then you can talk and I'll listen." Wufei's only answer was to nod numbly in surprise and allow himself to be pulled down the hall and into the nearest bathroom.

After cleaning all of the blood from his face and wiping his shirt as clean as possible he followed Duo up the stairs and into one of the many sitting rooms. They both chose opposite chairs and stiffly sat down.

After several tense silent moments Duo became frustrated. "So talk!" he growled out now glaring at the other man.

Wufei shrunk back from Duo's glare but quickly recovered his composure. He sat up straight, adopted his old 'haughty' attitude and started to speak. "I am here because I had to see you again. I miss you Duo. I believe that it has been long enough, it is time to come home now." He held his head high as he spoke and tried to exude dominance, it didn't go unnoticed by Duo either.

Duo shook his head, "So, let me get this straight. You think that by coming here and saying this to me, I'll just cave and go home with you?" he asked, disbelief clearly marking his words.

When his question was met with silence he nearly lost it. His hands balled up in fists as his mind fought between punching the man in front of him or restraining himself. The restraint won overall but he was still unable to relax.

Wufei watched the play of emotions across Duo's face but remained impassive, seemingly unaware of the internal struggle within the other man. "I do not expect you to 'cave', as you so put it; but rather, come to your senses. Duo, you know you belong with me and not with these people here. How can you even entertain the idea of returning to Heero? The man did nothing but ignore you all those years you were by his side, no matter what you did".

Duo sat in mute shock for a moment before responding to Wufei, "What the fuck! Lets get one thing straight, bucko! I am not, nor was I ever, _with_ Heero. You are the only relationship I have ever been in, so there is no 'returning' to him as you so put it. On top of that, I would _much _rather be ignored then beat on, so if your trying to pull a pissing contest to see who was better he would STILL win over you! Wufei, for fucks sake! You're a god damned abusive drunk! Get a fucking clue!"

During Duo's entire monologue, Wufei said nothing nor showed any sort of emotional response. His face remained apathetic and his hands stayed folded together in his lap. Once the braided man had finished he looked up, black eyes meeting violet, and spoke evenly in gentle dulcet tones. "I understand that I have made some erroneous decisions in my life and that drinking was one of them. However, I would have thought that you, above anyone, would have been able to forgive and forget. We were both hard killers for the war, and you lived such a hard life before that, that I assumed you would understand. That was my mistake I guess. I trusted you to help me work through my problems as I would have helped you work through yours."

"What the hell are you talking about Wufei? You're speaking in circles. I don't know how to forgive and forget? I didn't try to help you through any problems? You helped me through mine?" Duo rubbed a hand down his face in exasperation. "Tell me, what problems of mine did you help me through exactly? Because from where I'm standing it looks like all you did was create problems for me."

Wufei huffed out a sigh before answering. "I helped you to get over Heero, to have a family that you always wanted, and gave you a home that you always dreamed of. I worked so that you would not have to, need I go on?" The indignation lacing his voice turned the air in the room ice cold forcing a chill to speed down Duo's spine.

Duo's thoughts faltered at Wufei's words. He started to doubt his own resolve. It was true the man had done all of that, and yet he had become abusive; that was more than enough reason to leave wasn't it? Should he have given it more time? Should he have tried harder to help the other man? The other man had lied to him as well though…. He couldn't understand what to do at this point. He was suddenly so confused.

During Duo's obvious internal struggle, Wufei sat silently, eyes closed as if in meditation. Duo looked over at him and realized that for the first time in years, the Asian man looked more like the Wufei he had fallen in love with rather than the angry drunk he had become.

He studied him for a minute, still at a debate as to what he should do when an idea popped into his head. "Would you like to see Toby and Eliza?" he asked, the question cutting across the silent room with all the force of a bomb going off.

Wufei jerked slightly in surprise at the sudden question. "Who?" he asked before his brain could process what he was saying. Unfortunately the effect his single word question had on Duo was immediate. The other mans face screwed up in disbelief followed rapidly by rage before answering through clenched teeth.

"Who? What the fuck do you mean WHO? _Your_ fucking kids! That's who! Or don't they matter to your drunken fool of a mind? I can't believe you, you royal son-of-a-bitch!" Duo had jumped up mid-rant and was right up in Wufei's face as his voice raised in volume.

Wufei remained calm through all of it and when Duo had finally stopped talking he bit out in his ruthlessly justice filled voice, "Calm down Duo. I knew you were talking about the kids, you just caught me off guard. Now sit back down and talk with me like an adult rather than an irate teenager. I had thought you outgrew such behavior."

Duo plopped back down with a growl, saying nothing more but glaring at Wufei and struggling to keep Shinigami at bay. Wufei watched him with a self-righteous smirk coloring his face before leaning forward, balancing his arms on his knees and looking Duo directly in the eyes.

"Duo, you really should learn to control that temper of yours. I imagine it would be just awful if someone claimed you unfit to handle children due to anger management issues."

Duo's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing in contempt; his hatred for the man in front of him intensifying causing his next words to come out in short clipped sentences from around clenched teeth. "How. Dare. You."

Wufei's smirk intensified before leaning back and crossing his arms over his chest. "So, lets put that aside. I'm here to offer you a new proposition."

Duo was still seething at this point but urged Wufei to continue on. The other man did just that readily. "Why don't you come home, we'll have another ceremony and invite all the guys. This time I will immediately turn in the marriage certificate and we can go back to our lives the way things were before. Wouldn't you like that?" he spoke to Duo in a soft cooing voice as if talking with a young ignorant child, which only served to tick Duo off even more.

"And if I refuse what will happen?"

Wufei gave a short bark of laughter, "Ha! You can't refuse Duo. Your children are depending on you after all." His grin widened before he continued, "Remember, without me, you have no legal hold over those children that _Sally _gave birth to, she was legally my wife and so those are legally my children, not yours. You would do well to remember that." He stood up then brushing imaginary dirt from his pants before turning towards the door. "Think about it Duo. I will be here until tomorrow."

As he reached the door he turned and met Duo's glare once more. "I'm sure you will make the right decision" he stated before opening the door and leaving, quickly disappearing from Duo's sight once more.

Duo sat in the silence of the empty room for several minutes before jumping up and stalking out bellowing out Heero's name as he went, "HEERO!" when he was met with no response he flagged down a servant and asked them to please inform Heero to meet him in the dojo immediately. He had some anger to work out and thought Heero would be the perfect sparring partner to help him out.

Three hours later found both Heero and Duo on the floor of the dojo, sweaty and chests heaving for breath. "I'm glad to see you've still got it Duo. You haven't lost a thing!" Heero panted out from his postion. Duo, still trying to catch his own breath managed to heave out a thanks before slowly rolling to his side in preparation to stand.

Heero stood up and reached out a hand to help Duo who accepted it gladly. "Now, do you want to tell me what has you so upset? I'm sure I can guess who but I want to know what he said to put you in such a state."

Duo sighed, "Alright I'll tell you everything, but first let me go shower and see my kids. I'll meet you up in the library in an hour, we'll talk then, Ok?"

Heero gave him a gentle smile before nodding in response. They both went their separate ways fully prepared to meet up an hour later.

* * *

To Be Continued….

Ok, I know I said I was going to make this extra long, but that spot was just too perfect a place to end to keep going. However I hope I make up for it by posting the next chapter with this one. Thank you all for sticking with me for so long! I love each and every one of you! R&R please!

-Tsuzuki-nyo


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Yay! Chapter 9! I'm so glad that you have stuck with me for so long. I do apologize greatly for the long wait for these next chapters. Life kept happening and I'm sure all of you know how that goes. I recently had a death in the family as well so I'm still dealing with that. So, if this chapter seems really dark then that's probably why. Also, my surgery was post-poned for Oct. 3, so yeah next week is it. I'm have my whole upper jaw reconfigured… They told me that my jaw will be wired shut for three weeks! Yikes! So in theory I should be able to do plenty of writing in that time… well in theory any way. I'll do my best. On that note, I hope this chapter will be enough to hold you over until I am back in action. Enjoy everyone!

Two Beds and A Coffee Machine Chapter 10

To each his own….

Heero paced the room rapidly, glancing once more at the clock on the wall. Duo had said they would meet in one hour and yet it was nearing two with no sign of the braided man. He was really getting worried and was thinking of leaving to find him when there was a sudden abrupt knocking on the door.

He stopped his pacing and turned to the door, "Enter!" he bellowed. He tensed as the door knob turned, knowing already that it was not Duo. Duo would never knock, he would just burst into the room like he owned it.

The door opened up revealing the one person he had no desire to see, Wufei. They both stood staring at one another for several tense moments before Wufei spoke up. "Heero, I would have a word with you." He stated calmly chin raised in silent defiance.

Heero growled and took up a more ready fighting stance, legs shoulder-width apart arms at the ready. "So talk!" he growled out not willing to show any trust in the Chinese man.

Wufei sighed in irritation then moved further into the room in order to close the door behind him. He stood directly in front of the door, facing Heero, arms crossed over his chest. "Alright, fine. I just came to inform you that I will be leaving tomorrow, with Duo".

His words hit Heero like a punch to the gut and he physically reeled back from them. "Excuse me, but did you just say you were leaving with Duo?" he asked

Wufei gave a slight smirk. "I did say just that".

"What makes you think he'll agree to that?"

"He already has. I would also like to inform you that we will be renewing our vows and would love to have you there for the ceremony. This time I will be sure to turn the certificate in right away." He stated with an air of finality and possessiveness.

Heero's jaw tightened as he resisted the urge to punch Wufei once more. "I don't believe you! Duo would never agree to that!"

Wufei gave a soft chuckle before turning back to the door and opening it to leave. "That just shows what you know about Duo. " He started to walk out the door but stopped mid-stride to leave Heero with one more biting remark, "Maybe if you had paid more attention to him during the war you would know him better. Be expecting your invitation in the mail." With that being said he closed the door behind him leaving Heero alone once more.

Meanwhile Duo was sitting alone in his room mind whirling in insane circles. Wufei had come to him at the time he was meant to see Heero and had informed him that he was not to talk to the guys before he left. So, basically he was not even allowed to say goodbye.

He started to pace his room, wearing circles into the carpet in the process. Part of him was wondering why he was allowing Wufei to control him so completely, the other part was convincing him that he was doing all of this for his kids.

That was it, it was all for the kids. He would do anything for them, so if that meant 18 years of servitude to Wufei then so-be-it. He could handle it, he'd been through much worse after all. His thoughts came to a halt as he plopped down on his borrowed bed. He looked around the room he had called his own for the past few weeks and wanted to weep for how far he had fallen.

He was busy wallowing in his misery when he was startled out of his thoughts by a knock to his door. "Duo? Are you in there? I need to talk to you!"

He started to panic as Heero's urgent voice wafted through the door, quickly remembering what Wufei had told him. He didn't know whether to answer Heero, or ignore him by pretending he wasn't there. In the end Heero chose for him by just walking in uninvited.

"Duo?" he questioned before his eyes fell on Duo's still form in the dim light. He rushed over to the bed and quickly pulled Duo into a rough hug. "Please," he begged, "Please tell me its not true!"

Duo didn't return the hug he just turned his head away, "You shouldn't be here…" he whispered trying fruitlessly to push the bigger man away.

"I wont let you go!" Heero growled out tightening his hold around Duo.

Hearing Heero like this almost made Duo cry, he didn't want to go back with Wufei, he didn't want to live a lie any more. He also didn't know what to do about it. Heero represented everything he wanted, and everything he couldn't have. He choked back a sob, unable to handle it anymore. "You don't have a choice Heero, you have to let me go."

"Why?! Why would you even consider going back to him after the way he treated you!?" Heero exclaimed pushing Duo back to arms-length to look him in the face. Duo couldn't meet his eyes and opted to look over his shoulder. "By that reasoning one would wonder why I should even be your friend after the way _you _treated me. Hell, you beat on me too Heero, several times actually…"

"Gah! You cannot be serious right now! What I did during the war was for the greater good! Not because I was drunk! The only times I 'beat on you' as you so put it was when it was absolutely necessary." Heero's grip on Duo's arms tightened dangerously as he talked.

"Heero… You're hurting me right now. Do you think you could loosen up on that grip just a bit?" Duo winced to emphasize his point.

Heero quickly released him and stood up, horror showing clearly on his face. He looked from Duo to his hands and back again at Duo, unsure of what he should do. "I'm sorry Duo… I didn't mean… God! I'm no better than he is!"

Duo wanted to comfort him, to tell him that he was so much better than that. But he forced himself to stay silent. It was better this way, he was going to leave anyway. This was really for the best. It really was… So why was he crying? Why was his heart breaking at the thought of going back to Wufei. He'd lived with Wufei for nearly ten years… if he did it that long what was another ten?

Heero released him completely and stepped back from the bed. "I'm sorry… I didn't—I mean—why—Please don't cry. I will leave if it makes you feel better. I'll do anything to get that wretched look off your face."

He didn't know what to do anymore. He couldn't lose his kids and that's just what Wufei was promising if he didn't return with him, and yet the thought of going back to that unhappy house was very nearly just as unbearable.

"Please!" he cried reaching out and grabbing Heero's shirt and pulling him back to the bed forcing them to be merely inches apart. "Please don't let him take my children! No matter what happens promise me you will protect them!"

Heero looked startled and unsure of what to do as Duo buried his head into his chest, hands fisting into his shirt. "Shhh Duo, no one is going to take your children. Why would you even think that?" he reassured the braided man gently while stroking one hand down his hair in an attempt to bring comfort.

Tear filled violet eyes met with Heero's concerned blues before a shaky voice rattled out, "Don't you see? That's why I'm going back. If I don't I could lose my kids… I don't know what to do! He's right, he has more legal rights to them than I ever will… I could never forgive myself if I lost them…"

Heero's eyes widened in a sort of disbelieving comprehension as he finally realized what had happened. He wrapped his arms around Duo in a tight hug as his mind worked quickly to come up with a plan. "Don't worry Duo. We will figure this out. No matter what happens, I will not let Wufei take you or the kids away from here. I promise you, this time I will protect you, you and your kids." He emphasized his words with a soft kiss to the top of Duo's head before releasing him. "I'm going to go find Quatre, if anyone can get you out of this mess it will be him. Don't worry, we'll figure it out. In the meantime, don't let Wufei know that you told me anything. Just keep leading him to believe you are really leaving tomorrow." He stood up and walked to the door but stopped right before he opened it, turned to look back at Duo once before whispering a quick, "mission accepted". With that he opened the door and hastily exited the quickly darkening room.

Wufei growled with infuriation. How could Duo not understand, after all he had done for him. How did he not realize that he was just trying to do the right thing. This was justice after all. He had helped to father two children and so should be there to raise them. He certainly wasn't going to give up his parental rights just because Duo had lost faith in him. The other man needed to learn that when things broke, you had to fix them, not throw them away; and if he had to go to the extreme to make him see that, then so be it. This would work! He would not be the odd man out again! Heero had missed out on his chance and Wufei would be damned if he would let him get another.

_He _was the one that had comforted Duo. _He_ was the one that had helped him create a family. _He_ was the one that had sheltered him and kept him safe these past ten years. And _ he _ was the one that had fallen in love with Duo first. Heero would not have him! He clenched his fists together as the anger and jealously over rode his senses and before he realized what he was doing, his fist was through the wall.

Realizing that he was only upsetting himself further, he decided he needed to calm himself down. The first idea that came to his head was to go and visit Duo, it had been some hours and Wufei knew the braided man needed constant supervision. He couldn't leave him alone for too long or he might get ideas, might forget who it is he belongs to. He walked out the bedroom door and down the hall and made it to Duo's room just as Heero was exiting.

"Yuy." Was all he said in greeting as his eyes narrowed to angry slits. 'What the hell was he doing in Duo's room?!' "What do you think you are doing?" he spat.

Heero just glared, "I was just wanting to talk to Duo, but he seems to be asleep so I'm leaving. Is that alright with you? Or should I ask for your permission next time?"

Wufei gave a smirk, "Yes, that is exactly what you should do." he stated, chin raised in superiority.

Heero growled, "Not gonna happen, Chang! I don't care what you think, Duo is my friend and now that Quatre and I have him back in our lives we are not going to let him disappear again!"

Wufei's head flew back as a rough laugh escaped him. "Don't make me laugh! You? Friends? Ha! Good one Yuy. Now if you will excuse me, I have not seen my lover in some weeks and feel the need to replenish myself of him." Before Heero could respond Wufei quickly opened Duo's door and walked inside leaving an irate and frustrated Heero behind.

Heero ground his teeth together before quickly stalking away. There was no time to waste, he had to find Quatre as quickly as possible and update him on the situation.

To be Continued!

Ok I have to stop here as I have a crap ton of stuff to do. I hope you enjoyed these last two chapters! R&R please!

-Tsuzuki-nyo


	11. Chapter 10 12

AN: Hey everyone! I usually hate these pseudo-chapters that others do, but I felt this was really necessary. To start off I want to apologize for the prolonged absence. I had my surgery and recovery was a bitch. Please excuse the language, but anything more delicate just isn't enough. I had my jaw reconstructed, my upper jaw to be exact. Part of the recovery so that the bone would fuse back together, was to wire my jaw shut for three weeks. It was TERRIBLE! Imagine being on a liquid diet and "eating" out of a large syringe for that long. Yes, it is just as bad as you are imagining. Good news is that the wires are finally off and I'm finally back to eating mostly normally. No hard crunchy things but at least I can eat solid foods now. But I digress, what I wanted to tell you was that right in the middle of my recovery my laptop (a Sony Vaio) up and died. And I don't just mean that it got some little virus I mean it froze up, shut down, and windows went completely down. No more windows on my computer…. Whole operating system was wiped and I had no way to access my files. So, I went to best buy and they told me it would be $250 just to get it going again but closer to $400 to get it working completely. So I decided to trash it and finally get the new computer I've been needing. I now have a MAC for the first time ever and it is a very weird system to work with after being sooo used to windows. Now I am just waiting for a cord that I can connect directly to my old hard drive and to the MAC that will allow me to access all my old files, including, my half finished chapters of both of my current stories. So please, bare with me just a little longer! I am again terribly sorry that it has taken me this long to get in touch with you. I promise I will work really hard on getting the next chapters out as soon as I figure out how to work the "word" program on this computer. Does anyone know if they make Microsoft word for MAC's? lol Or does anyone have any suggestions on a good writing program on them? I need something. Thanks again for sticking by me everyone! Love and kisses all around!

-Tsuzuki-nyo


	12. Chapter 11

AN: Hello again everyone! I want to start out by thanking each and every one of you for your kind and encouraging words. If not for you I would have wanted to just drop both stories. Thank you to Shenlong1 for the suggestion of OpenOffice, that is what I am using now and it seems to be working just fine. :) Although I do prefer Microsoft word and will probably be switching to that as soon as I am able, so thank you to FaustinaAurelia13 for the advice on where to get it. And a big thank you to Anni-Cat as well since I need all the luck I can get right now.

Also a big thank you for everyone that is either following or has favorited my stories, I appreciate you as well and even though you haven't sent me a review, just knowing that you are following me is a big encouragement. So again, thank you!

Ok with all of that being said this is a REAL chapter this time, not just an Authors Note. (This is where you breath a sigh of relief and go 'its about damn time') So, without further ado, On to the story!

Chapter 11

Dreams of Reality

-Quatre's flashback-

Quatre ran down the corridor towards his office at full speed, too long of arms flailing at his sides as his awkward and now overly long legs covered ground quickly. He had been having crazy growth spurts ever since he hit 18 years old. He thought for sure he was done growing at 5'6'' back then but apparently he wasn't. He grew nearly a quarter inch a night for a full week which made him gangly and strange. His arms and legs felt too long and weakened, as if stretched out. Once he finally finished growing for sure his doctor put him on a strict diet and exercise plan to try and build his muscles back up and keep him from growing any weaker.

For a long while after his drastic growth spurt everyone looked at him differently, especially Trowa. He had really enjoyed being the smaller of the two of them, he was after all a definite Uke so being smaller had worked out well. Now, however, he was on equal ground with the other man which turned out to be not such a good thing.

Trowa had gone to stay with his sister after the war, which Quatre was quite happy with since he wouldn't have wanted to be seen in such a horrible state. He ended up being the one seeking the other out; once he felt more normal again and had bulked up considerably. However, the welcoming he received was crude at best, which sent him home feeling heavyhearted and glum. The end result was him spending two weeks straight in his room crying his eyes out and cursing his now overly large body.

-Present Day-

Quatre sighed softly as he gazed out at the beautiful flat green scenery from his balcony. He was dredging up the past again and that was never a good thing, it always just depressed him. Trowa wasn't a bad person, he had just moved on when Quatre could not. Gods above but he still loved the man. He always would, no matter his size or shape. He just wished Trowa had felt the same.

He sighed again leaning into his arms which were folded on the railing. It had to be this whole mess with Duo that had him thinking about Trowa. He supposed he felt jealous of the other man, Duo, unlike he, had stayed the same size. He never became a gargantuan monster like himself. It was just unfair, if he had just remained small maybe Trowa would have still been with him.

He shook his head, no, that could not be right. If Trowa had really loved him then he would have accepted Quatre's new size and since that was not the case, he realized they would have broken up sooner or later anyway.

Just as more horrible thoughts were breaking their way into his skull he was startled back into reality by a harsh banging on his door. "Come in!" he called as he straightened himself and his expression before turning towards the door. He wasn't surprised at all to see Heero himself there waiting patiently.

As Quatre walked closer to Heero he smiled softly and said in a welcoming voice, "Heero! What a pleasant surprise! What can I do for you?"

Heero's eyes narrowed dangerously as he studied Quatre, "You've been thinking about Trowa again." he stated boldly, reaching out to grab Quatres chin forcing their eyes to meet.

Quatre lowered his gaze refusing to look at Heero not bothering to deny it, it wouldn't do any good anyway, Heero could always see right through any mask he put on.

"Quatre, you've got to stop beating yourself up like this. You make me want to kick Trowa's ass and I would too if he wasn't so evenly matched with me."

Quatre let out a puff of air, "I'm sorry Heero, its just that seeing Duo reminds me of how much I changed." his words sounded sad and dreary even in his own ears making him wonder how pathetic he must sound to Heero.

"Ah, but you changed for the better" Heero pointed out as he pulled a willing Quatre into his arms. Hot breath tickled the blond mans neck as Heero continued to soothe him. "See? Your taller than me, but I can still hold you. Trowa is just an idiot. My previous offer still stands ya know."

"Heero... We've discussed that. It wouldn't be fair..."

"Fair? Fair to who? Everyone needs to feel wanted every once in a while." Heero pushed Quatre back slightly in order to look him directly in the eyes. "Whats not fair about it? You're a very attractive man so trust me you wouldn't be putting me out at all. Besides, you know I care for you."

"Yeah... You just care for Duo more..." Quatre pulled away from Heero and took a step back, suddenly feeling more retched then ever. A few years back Heero had offered to be with Quatre as a way to ease them both from their lost loves. It was a nice gesture, but Quatre was sure that it would just make things awkward between them. They were best friends and he didn't want anything to ruin that. Although, he fully admitted that he found Heero extremely attractive and he did like him; he just wasn't in love with him.

Heero's eyes widened in surprise, "And you love Trowa more, so we're even. Although why you love that son-of-a-bitch is beyond me."

"Heero!" Quatre exclaimed, his tone a clear harsh warning that the other was treading on thin ice by saying such things.

Heero let out a deep sigh before striding out onto the balcony, keeping his back to the other. "I didn't come in here for this, I came to ask your help with something."

Intrigue forced Quatre to follow and he leaned against the rail as he eyed Heero. It was rare that the other asked for something, he was a very private person and although he was more open with Quatre, there was still a lot that was kept hidden. "You know I would do anything at all for you Heero. So what is it?"

Heero stepped forward so that he too could lean against the balcony rail as he spoke. "Did you know that Duo is leaving?" He asked softly and at Quatres soft nod he decided to continue. "What do you know exactly?"

Quatre looked more puzzled than anything by the question and had to think for a moment before responding. "Well, Wufei came in earlier and handed me a wedding invitation and told me that they were going to try again, for real, this time. I was surprised, but I guess its a good thing for both of them right?"

At Quatres words Heeros head snapped to the right to level him with a solid glare. "Explain to me how he is good for Duo in ANY way?!" he spat, anger at the mere thought of Wufei being good for his beloved Duo.

Any lesser man would have caved at that look from Heero, but Quatre just rolled his eyes before continuing. "C-mon Heero! At least Wufei seems to be trying to make everything right! Thats more than Trowa ever did and yet I still love the man! Maybe its the same with Duo."

"Hah! You would like that wouldn't you! Because then I would forever be as miserable as you and we would be right back to the way we were before Duo appeared back in our lives! You know what they say, 'Misery Loves Company'!" The words were out of Heero's mouth before he could stop them causing instant regret as hurt flashed across Quatres face and aquamarine eyes filled with tears.

"Shit! Quatre I'm sorry! I didn't mean that! I'm just so frustrated right now and I forgot for a second that you don't know the whole truth. Please Quatre don't cry! I really am sorry!" He frantically tried to ease Quatre who now had tears streaming silently down his cheeks.

"No," he started, halting Heero in his stream of apologies. "I know its all true. Maybe your right, maybe I am jealous of the way Duo has returned and the fact that he is still just as madly in love with you now as he was ten years ago! Who wouldn't want that? If Trowa showed up tomorrow and suddenly told me he never once forgot me and still loved me, I would jump on the chance! I-I-hic- I know -hic- that -hic- that you are right, and I'm s-sorry a-about that! -hic-" he was crying in earnest making it hard for Heero to understand him.

Heero frowned and reached out to once again pull Quatre into his arms. He started rubbing soothing circles onto the taller mans back while shushing him gently. Once the other had quieted he gently pushed him back. "I am truly sorry Quatre. I really didn't mean it, I know that you are not jealous of me. In fact I don't even think your capable of feeling jealousy. You may have grown in height, but you haven't really changed much otherwise."

Quatre stepped back while rubbing his eyes, "Whats that supposed to mean?" his question made Heero smirk alerting the blond man that he was about to get teased.

"It means that you were a crybaby before and now your just a bigger one." he looked Quatre up and down, "A much bigger one... Say, since your body grew twice the size does that mean your dick also grew twice the size?"

Quatres eyes widened, "Heero! That... Thats private! And I am not a crybaby, you- you're just a jerk!"

He excentuated his point with a childish stomp of his foot which only added to Heeros mirth causing him to break out in an almost smile.

Quatre realized that he'd been had and calmed down immediately. "Oh! You!" he said as he quickly turned away from Heero.

Heero let out a small chuckle, then shook his head clear of his thoughts. "Are you feeling better now?" he asked while gently prodding the blond man to turn back his way. Quatre heaved a sigh and turned back to facing the asian man, "Yes! Darn you! Maybe I was enjoying feeling good and miserable too! Did you ever think of that?"

Heero smiled, "I believe you probably were, however, we have a serious matter to discuss so would you care so much to just leave the wallowing til later?"

Quatres eyebrows raised in question before he turned away from the balcony, leading Heero back inside.

Once safely inside they locked all the doors and windows before starting on a full bug sweep of the entire room. After they both had made two sweeps of the room with no results, they finally sat down in one of Quatres comfy arm chairs in front of the fire where Heero proceeded to fill him in.

"And thats it. So now we have to figure out exactly how to get Wufei to leave Duo alone. What do you think Quatre? Can you or your lawyers do anything?"

Sometime near the middle of their conversation Quatre had stood up and was now pacing the room in worry. "I'm not sure Heero, this is a very isolated case. I don't know that there has ever been one of its...caliber. Although we may have a case if we can prove that Duo has been the better parent and continues to be so. However, he will first need to have full time employment or support for himself and the children set up in order to succeed. I, of course, will take care of that myself. So, for the first order of business I must go and talk to Duo. And you say he is leaving in the morning? I suppose I better go now then. Right? Yes? Ok then! Off I go! Oh! And don't worry Heero! It will all work out fine, you'll see! Ja ne!"

Heero's jaw was almost on the floor by the time the ramped up blond finally walked out of the room. It never ceased to amaze him how Quatre would get so pumped up about work. No matter what kind of work it was, he always acted excited about it. He almost envied that about the other man. Work to him was just that, work; it was just what he did. He was good at it, sure, but did he enjoy it? Maybe some, enjoyment was never an option; it was just do.

He sat staring blankly at the closed door for several seconds before shaking his head clear. He knew what he needed to do next and that was to break into Duo's very well protected mainframe and clear Wufei of any ownership of the children. If he could do that then things would go much more smoothly from that point on.

He sat in front of Quatres lap top and cracked his knuckles, preparing himself for a long night of wrong passwords. The clue that Duo had given him was that it was his name written in the characters of four different languages. Now, he said 'characters' not letters so at least that narrowed it down a bit, only there were still a good hundred languages to choose from, not to mention the different dialects. It was certainly going to be a tough nut to crack, however, he wasn't called the perfect soldier for nothing. With that last thought he settled in for a long night of code cracking while he waited on Quatre to get back.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

To be continued (hopefully sooner this time ;p )

As always R&R! Love you all and I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the next one may be longer, but this was just too good of a stopping point that I hated to go any further. See you next chapter!

-Tsuzuki-nyo


	13. Chapter 12

AN: OMG! I just went back and re-read this story so far and I was shocked at the mistakes! Man, I really need a beta I guess. Chapter 3 was probably the worse. Right in the middle of the chapter I totally changed POV's and turned it into a first person for a good three paragraphs. Thats embarassing... I'm surprised no one called me out on it. So, I apologize for that and I will definitely try to improve, or at least check my work better before posting.

Also, this chapter is extra long, I hope that makes up for the long wait.

New warning for this chapter! There is a little bit of 1x4 in here! Uh-oh! Better watch out! Haha, its not a bad thing, you'll see.

I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL Holiday and I'm glad we all survived the world ending on the 21st. It was funny because my base actually hosted a 摘nd of the Worldparty that night. I of course didn't go, but it still happened. I found that highly amusing.

Well enough babble from me, on to the story! Enjoy!

OoOoOoOoOoO

Chapter 12

Eureka!

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Heero swore under his breath for the umpteenth time, this password of Duo's was proving to be a lot harder than he anticipated. The sad part was he knew that it was his name, just not what languages were used to spell it. Then, even if he figured out what languages he still had to figure out how it was divided up. Was it 'H-E' then 'E-R'? Or perhaps it was 'H-E', 'E', then 'R-O'. He had no idea what-so-ever, which made it all that much harder.

He'd been working non-stop for the past three hours with little progress made. He blinked at the computer screen as it beeped out yet another failure at him causing him to growl in frustration before scrubbing at his face with his hands. He couldn't believe how hard this was proving to be! After staring at the computer screen blankly for a few seconds he finally decided that he needed a break, and some coffee.

Once in the kitchen he started a pot of coffee, knowing that he would probably drink the entire thing all on his own. It was really late and the rest of the house was dark and quiet, the only sounds being the drip and gurgle of the brewing coffee. Heero leaned back against the counter as he waited and thought back to the time when Duo was telling him about the password. He remembered every word the braided man had said, now he just needed to focus and see if there was a clue mixed in there anywhere.

The beep of the coffee pot brought him back to the present and he quickly poured himself a mug before grabbing the whole pot and making his way back up the stairs. He was halfway up when a thought hit him. The last thing Duo had said about the password was that 'if he wanted another hint he would have to _beg_ for it'. The way he said '_beg'_ had to be a clue; but what clue could possibly be in _'beg'_?

He sat down in front of his computer once more and pulled up another decoding program and used it to find all the different ways to spell 'beg'. While that was working he thought more about it. He knew that it was his name made up of four different languages, but beg was only three letters so that couldn't be it. Heero knew that Duo was crafty with words and could easily have created an acronym.

No matter how he looked at it he knew somehow that the answer lie in the word 'beg'; now it was only a matter of time before he figured it out. He looked up at the clock, 0100- he had around seven hours left before Duo was up and leaving with Wufei. That was really not much time to get everything done, but he would do it. This was one mission that he knew he could not fail. He had a bad feeling in his gut that if he let Duo walk out that door, he really would never see the other man again, and no matter what he could not let that happen.

Several Hours Later~

Heero slammed his hands down on the desk in frustration. He must have tried over a hundred different combinations and NOTHING was working! He didn't know what to do anymore. He realized that he could just go and ask Duo, but that would be admitting defeat and Heero Yuy just never did that. On the other hand, he was doing this to _help_ Duo...

He sighed in resignation and decided to pay Duo a quick visit, conveniently forgetting two very important things; one-it was four-o-clock in the morning, and two- Quatre was apparently still with him. He set off for Duo's room blissfully unaware of these two slight problems.

Once he was at Duos door he lifted his hand to knock and stopped short as he heard voices within.

...I know, but what else have I got besides the truth?that was Duo's voice and in response Heero was easily able to pick out Quatre.

..'the truth will set you free'... true, but not at the same time. In your case the full truth may hurt you. You need to really play up the tragedy side of this. Talk about how your children have suffered, how you have been beaten and abused. Don't even mention any sort of agreement or arrangement between you two; it will only confuse the judge and make things more complicated."

Heero growled in frustration. How was he supposed to interfere when Quatre was obviously trying to help him? He stood staring at the door in indecision for a full minute before making up his mind. With a nod to himself he quickly rapped on the door three times, his trademark knock signaling everyone inside that it was him. He waited a moment then heard Duo call out, 田ome in!in a rather timid sounding voice.

He quickly opened the door and stepped into the darkened bedroom. The room was bathed in shadows, the only light coming from a small bedside lamp illuminated with a yellow, quickly fading, light. He looked over at Duo and couldn't help but smile at the sight of the other man. He was looking a little haggard, but no matter how he looked, Heero couldn't get enough of seeing him.

The smile wasn't lost on Duo, who quickly gave a soft smile back before straightening and asking, 滴eero! What a pleasant surprise! To what do I owe this pleasure at...he looked over at his bedside clock and his eyes widened in suprise ..At freaking, four-o-clock in the morning! Damn! The night is already gone!"

Heero shook his head sadly before turning his full attention on the braided vision before him. 泥uo,he started, 的 need to know the password to the Preventers database. I know you already told me that its my name, but I will fully admit that I just cannot break the code and I am running out of time. Please at least give me another hint!"

Duo sighed, 滴eero, you know I can't just tell you. I'm under oath to never give the code away. But, if you _behg_ you might just figure it said in a serious tone once again emphasizing the 'behg'.

Heero let out a groan of frustration, 添ou said that before! I _know_ BEG is some sort of code but I am just not seeing it! I need something more! Duo please just give me another clue!"

Duo's eyes narrowed in suspicion, 鄭lright,he said, tone darkening with his mood. 鄭ll I can tell you is that if you BUH-HEG, you may figure something watched as the words registered with Heero and understanding dawned across his face.

Heero clapped his hands together in triumph, 的 understand!he bowed low and deep to Duo to express his respect before turning away and running out the door. He knew how to break the code now. It wasn't B-E-G it was B-E-H-G! He couldn't believe that he didn't notice it before.

He ran out the door and made it back to his room in record time to quickly type his new-found information into his computer. Within minutes his computer came up with several possible combinations, and within the hour he had it figured out.

It was his name alright; in Bengali, Egyptian, Hindi, and Gujarti (BEHG) all of which were languages Heero had heard of, but never studied. His name had never looked so long, nor so complicated, it was shocking to say the least; but the triumphant feeling he got once it was figured out made it all ok, even if he did require a little bit of help.

Once into the Preventers main frame he immediately set out to find any and all of Duo's and Wufei's records as well as Sally's. It was mere minutes before they were all located inside a nice neat folder titled 'Staff'.

Upon seeing the simplicity of the Preventers mainframe, Heero let out a growl of annoyance. It seemed as though anyone that had access to get past initial security could easily find information on any one of of the employees. He would definitely have to have a talk with Une about this. He didn't like the idea of unknown individuals having full access to Duo's information, and neither would Duo if he knew.

Pushing aside his annoyance at the lack of security, he quickly opened up Wufei's file and was surprised to find not only Sally's, but a link to Duo's on the inside. That seemed very fishy to Heero since supposedly no one at headquarters knew that they were half married and lived together.

Opening Sally's folder he quickly opened her profile and saw where it stated her as deceased, but did not mention anything of being survived by a spouse. In fact, he couldn't find mention of marriage anywhere in her file, not even any mention of having mothered not one, but two children.

He minimized her folder and went back to Wufei's to look at his profile, same thing, no mention of marriage at all. In fact in the block where you choose whether your married or single, there was nothing at all. It was just left blank. Things were just getting stranger and stranger as he went along. Wufei's file also had nothing listed under children, it was the same as Sally's; blank.

He saved Duo's file for last and was shocked by what he found. Under the marriage block, Duo's was checked as 'married' but where it asked for spouse information it was left blank, as was most of his profile sheet.

His name was listed simply as 'Duo Maxwell', his age '28', and his date-of-birth was left blank. There were lots of blanks on his sheet which puzzled Heero at first until he remembered that Duo had grown up an orphan, so he probably didn't know any of the information.

He scrolled further down and was surprised when under the block for kids it stated '2' and below that was both kids names, Toby Miles and Eliza Audrey. What Heero saw next made him smile in triumph; both kids were listed with a very simple singular last name of Maxwell.

He almost laughed with glee at Wufei's blatant stupidity. How could he have forgotten to cover his tracks so thoroughly? The Chinese man had to know that if anyone ever got past Duo's security he would never be safe.

Heero really stopped to think about it then and realized that Wufei had just made the classic criminal mistake; he'd gotten too comfortable. He was 杜arriedto Duo and in that sense 'owned' the other man. This ownership made him confidant that all he had to do was maintain control and no one would ever get past Duo's security.

Now though, all that had changed. Now, Heero was in and learning all kinds of interesting things. He decided to take it a step further and see if anyone else was aware of the fact that Duo was listed as married to the other man.

He exited out of Wufei's file and decided to check out the names on some of the other files. Most of them he had never heard of, but towards the bottom was yet another puzzling surprise. When he had first opened the file he quickly noticed that they were all in alphabetical order by last name, so of course he was able to find Chang, Wufei quite quickly. Now that he was nearing the bottom he came across another file listed as 'Po, Sally'.

He quickly opened the file and was shocked to find all of the previous information he had found, plus more. This one did list her as married, but did not say to whom. It also stated her as having one child listed as Toby Miles with no surname.

He decided to quickly make copies of all of the files and print them off before closing out that folder continuing on his search for juicy information. He spent another hour just searching the database for any useful information on both Duo and Wufei before closing out and shutting the computer down.

He had done all he could, now he just had to give the information to Quatre and the rest would be up to the blonds amazing team to figure out. He smiled to himself in confidence, there was no way Wufei would have so much as a leg to stand on once they were through with him.

His eyes widened in surprise as he glanced over at the clock, it was just reaching 0600 in the morning. Duo would be getting up in anywhere from two to three hours. He looked over at Quatres large four poster bed with memory foam mattress and down comforter and longed to go crash in it for just a few. He shook his head free and decided that finding Quatre was more important.

With one last look he turned toward the door and made to leave at the same time as Quatre strode back in.

Heero smiled happily at the larger man and quickly pulled him into a tight hug. 轍uatre! I've done it! We will win for sure with what I have found!"

Quatre laughed and easily returned the hug. 典hats wonderful Heero! What have you found?he asked as he gently pulled away.

Heero took that opportunity to thrust the papers into the blonds chest, 滴ere! Look over these and tell me what you think."

Quatre grabbed all the papers and carried them over to his small desk before sitting down to look them over. His smile slowly increased as he read and understanding dawned on him as to what he was seeing. 滴eero! This is spectacular! If he has no proof that he is married to either Duo or Sally, AND has no proof that the kids are his then we definitely have an easy case! Heero, you're brilliant!"

Heero couldn't help it, he was so excited by the prospect of having Duo finally freed that he didn't stop to think about his next move. In a burst of happy energy he leaned down, wrapped his arms around Quatre and planted a heated kiss right to the others lips.

Quatre sat slightly stunned for a mere moment before responding in full, his lips parting in a deep wanton sigh allowing Heero's tongue to dive in and explore.

At some point during the kiss Heero maneuvered himself so that he was straddling Quatres hips effectively grinding their groins together.

A soft knock on the door quickly drew Quatre back to the present with a groan. He growled out a quick response to the door before meeting Heero's eyes. 敵ods above Heero! I forgot how good you are just at kissing! It would be too easy to give in to you and your talents if we were to go uninterrupted.

The smile that lit Heero's face was soft and understanding as he pulled himself up and away freeing Quatre. 的 told you, my offer is always open.

Quatre snorted in response before walking over to the door and opening it surprised to see Duo on the other side. 泥uo? Are you ok? Whats happened?concern for his friend took over any other emotions he might have been feeling as he quickly ushered Duo inside and closed the door behind him.

Duo looked from Quatre to Heero then back to Quatre, 展hy is Heero here?

Quatre recognized this for exactly what it was immediately and had to hide a smirk behind his hand. 滴e's here because he was helping you. He just gave me some paperwork that will be your salvation. Don't worry Duo, Heero and I are not together. He's all yours."

Duo's eyes widened in response before he started sputtering indignantly. 展ha-What? What do you mean mine? I didn't-I mean I don't-that is- argh! Just show me the paperwork and lets not talk about anything more complicated than that alright?

He looked completely worn out as he plopped down in the same chair that Quatre occupied mere moments ago. Quatre smirked as he looked from the chair to Heero and didn't miss the flash of desire in Heeros eyes as he made the same connection Quatre did.

As Heero went over his findings with Duo Quatre stood nearby silently letting his thoughts run freely. A part of him really would love to take Heero up on his offer, but at this point it would only make things hard for him and Duo. He should have taken him up on it years ago when he first made the offer.

The more his thoughts spun the more depressed he made himself. He realized that he had lied to Duo about the whole situation with Trowa. He had made it sound like they both just went their seperate ways and that was the end. It was true that Trowa would still occasionally stop by for a vist _with _Heero, but never alone. That was the only truth and since he wasn't with Heero now, he assumed that meant the green eyed circus clown was not coming at all this year.

He really should tell Duo the truth, he didn't want his friend to hold any higher expectations for the arabs happiness then was necessary. He was so caught up in his twirling thoughts that he didn't even realize he was the center of attention until Heero clamped a hand down on his shoulder.

轍uatre? Are you alright?he asked, concern lacing his voice.

Quatre came back to the present with a start and looked over at Duo. 添es, yes I am, sorry. I was just lost in thought is all. Please excuse brushed Heeros hand away gently and walked over to the large bed to sit.

Duo caught the concern in Heero's voice and posture and made his way over to the bed as well. He sat down beside Quatre before pulling the blond man into a hug. 展ant to tell me about it?"

Quatre was mildly surprised by Duo's actions. He knew that the other man had more than enough on his own plate and didn't need to add Quatres problems to it. 的ts nothing Duo, I'm fine. Its just been a long night is all. Are you prepared for tomorrow? Have you worked out a plan?"

The silence that met his words hung thick and heavy throughout the room, choking everything in its path. It was a few heavy moments before Duo released Quatre and looked him straight in the face, eyebrows creased with either worry or anger, Quatre couldn't be sure.

轍uatre Reberba Winner! I don't want to hear something like 'its nothing' out of your lips! Now you wanted me to open up to you, well its your turn buddy. If you want me to be your friend again then you got it! And all that goes with it! So, start talking about whatever has you so upset. Something tells me it has to do with a certain tall dark and handsome circus clown, ne?Duo finished his rant by crossing his arms over his arms over his chest and frowning up to him.

徹k! Ok! I get smiled and closed his eyes to just simply take in the feelings of warmth and love radiating off of his two wonderful friends. It was the best feeling he'd had in months and he wanted to savor every moment. He took one of Duo's hands, and one of Heero's, in his own before opening up.

His tale began just at the end of the war and ended a few years back when he last saw Trowa. He desperately tried to weave the tale in a such a way that Trowa didn't sound like such a horrible person, he really wasn't. As soon as he was finished though, Duo looked horribly angered.

鉄o, this must be how you felt towards Wufei when you heard what had happened. I really just want to go punch Trowa right about now! How dare he turn his back on you for such a pointless reason!He stood up mid rant and starting pacing rapidly in front of Quatre.

Quatre threw up a hand halting him, 撤lease, do not think ill of him! He really is not a bad person. He just got confused. I think maybe he was never truly gay to begin with. Or even though he may be gay, he still wants to be the more masculine one and he just couldn't be that with me; or so he thought.

Duo huffed out a sigh before sitting back down beside Quatre. 添ou know Quat, you always try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but he didn't even grant you that much. Why are you not mad at him? You have every right to be you know? He hurt you, unnecessarily. Why continue to think only the best of him?"

Quatre also sighed, a more forlorn sound then the frustrated one Duo produced before responding. 摘ven after all that Heero did to you during the war, you still forgave him and still loved him, did you not?at Duo's surprised nod he continued, 的t is the same for me with Trowa. I love him Duo, I doubt that will ever change. It is the same with you, even if I did find someone else and was able to move on, a part of me would always love him.

Duo turned away in embarrassment knowing that Quatre was right. He decided that once his whole mess was straightened out he would definitely have to find Trowa and have a nice long talk. It had been too long since he'd seen the other pilot anyway.

Upon hearing Quatres story, something inside of Duo clicked and he decided that he wasn't going to run anymore. He was tired of running, and it wasn't good for his kids anyway. With an internal nod, decision made, he grabbed Quatre around the waist and pulled him down onto the bed so that they were both laying down.

Quatre gasped in surprise as Duo pulled him down. 泥uo? Don't you need to be up in about an hour?

Duo snorted, 鉄crew it. Wufei can wait, I'm not doing anything on no sleep. Besides, this will give him a chance to play father and see if he wants to do it.

Quatre sent a worried look to Heero who just shrugged in return and lay down on the other side of Quatre. 的'm with Duo, we all need some rest. Chang will just have to learn some patience.

Duo and Heero both wrapped their arms around Quatre and snuggled close to him. Quatre smiled feeling truly loved for the first time in years fell alseep within moments.

OoOoOoOoOoO

To be continued!

Ok, so what do you think? I was going to keep going on this chapter but I figured that was as good a place to stop as any. It's already twice as long as all the rest.

I, again, hope everyone had a very happy holiday and you are all well. As usual please R&R!


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